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REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Class 


HOW  TO  DOUBLE  THE  YIELD  AND 
INCREASE  THE  PROFITS. 


BY 

D.    S.    CURTISS, 

WASHINGTON,  B.C. 


T  5=t  .A.  T'El  XD 


NEW  YORK 

ORANGE    JUDD     COMPANY, 
No.   751  BROADWAY 


NEW  AMERICAN  FARM  BOOK. 


ORIGINALLY  BT 


Tfc. 


AUTHOR  03-  •'  DISEASES  OF  DOX^STIC  ANIMALS,"  AND  FORMERLY  SDITOR  OJ- 

THE  "AMERICAN  AGRICULTURIST." 

REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  BY 


,  ,-( 


in 


REESE    LIBRARY 

OF  THB 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

Received  .. 


Accessions  No. 


Shelf  JVo. 


/ 

s/t. 


manner  or  w  orkTng: — 

CHAPTER  XVII.  —  Sheep  —  Merino- 
Saxon—  Sout'x  Down  —  The  Long- 
wooled  Bree-.ls — Cotswold — Lincoln 
—  Breeding  —  Management  —  Shep- 
herd Dogs. 

CHAPTER  XVIIT.  —The  Horse— De- 
scription of  Different  Breeds — Their 
Various  Uses— Breeding— Manage- 
ment. 

CHAPTER  XIX. —The  Ass— Mule  — 
Comparative  Labor  of  Working 
Animals. 

CHAPTER  XX.  —  Swine  —  Different 
Breeds  —  Breeding — Rearing  —  Fat- 
tening— Curing  Pork  and  Hams. 

CHAPTER  XXI.  —  Poultry— Hens,  or 
Barn-door  Fowls  —  Turkey  —  Pea- 
cock—Guinea Hen— Goose  — Duck 
— Honey  Bees. 

CHAPTER  XXII. —Diseases  of  Ani- 
mals—What Authority  Shall  We 
Adopt  ?  —  Sheep  —  Swine  —  Treat- 
ment and  Breeding  of  Horace. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. —Conclusion— Gene- 
ral Remarks  —  The  Farmer  who 
Lives  by  hia  Occupation— Thd  Ama- 
teur Farmer — Sundry  Useful  Tables. 


^uAt-i&n  v  ii-.— vjraia,  nnnrrre  mnn- 
vatioa  —  Varieties  —  Growth— Har- 
vesting. 

CHAPTER  VIII.— Leguminous  Plants 
—The  Pea— Beau  —  English  Field 
Bean — Tare  or  Vetch — Cultivation 
— Harvesting. 

CHAPTER  IX.— Roots  and  Esculents- 
Varieties — Growth  —  Cultivation  — 
Securing  tie  Crops— Uses— Nutri- 
tive Equivalents  ot  Different  Kinds 
of  Forage. 

CHAPTER  X. — Fruits — Apples — Cider 
— Vinegar — Pears — Quinces — Plums 
Peaches  —  Apricot*  —  Nectarines  — 
Smaller  Fruits— Planting— Cultiva- 
tion—Gathering— Preserving. 

CHAPTER  XI. — Miscellaneous  Objects 
of  Cultivation,  aside  from  the  Or- 
dinary Farm  Crops — Broom-corn — 
Flax— Cottoi— Hemp— Sugar  Cane 
Sorghum — Miple  Sivjrar  —  Tobacco — 
Indigo— Madder— Wool— Sumach- 
Teasel  —  Mustard  —  Hops  —  Castor 
Bean. 

CHAPTER  XII.— Aids  and  Objects  of 
Agriculture  —  Rotation  of  Crops, 
and  their  Effects— Weeds— Hestora-  ' 


SENT    POST-PAID,  PRICE  $2.50. 

ORANGE  JUDD   COMPANY,   Publishers, 

751     BROADWAY,     NEW     VOKK. 


WHEAT  CULTURE. 


HOW  TO  DOUBLE  THE  YIELD  AND  INCREASE  THE  PROFITS. 


BY 

D.    S.    CURTISS, 

1  » 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


TUIR-D      EDITION 


ILLUSTRATED. 


NEW   YORK: 

ORANGE    JUDD    COMPANY, 

751    BROADWAY. 

1888. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1888,  by  the 

ORANGE  JUDD   COMPANY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington, 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION V 

CHAPTER    I.— WHEAT    CULTURE. 

How  to  Increase  the  Yield— The  Farmer's  Capital— Cost  of  Raising 
Wheat 9 

CHAPTER    II.— THE    WHEAT    PLANT. 

Geographical  History— Botanical  Origin— Spring  and  Winter  Wheat...  11 
CHAPTER    III.— How    TO   OBTAIN   A   LARGE   YIELD. 

First— Underdraining.  Second— Deep  Cultivation.  Third— Pulveriz- 
ing of  the  Soil.  Fourth— Alkalies  and  Soluble  Silica.  Fifth- 
Clover  and  Pasture.  Sixth — Selection  and  Preparation  of  the 
Seed 14 

CHAPTER    IV.— INCIDENTAL    REQUISITES    TO   A   LARGE   YIELD. 

Top-Dressing — Insects  and  Diseases — The  Average  Yield  Doubled — 
Improved  Drills  and  Wheat  Hoes — Early  Harvesting—  Rust,  its 
Prevention — Experiments  in  Indiana — Experiments  in  England. .  .18 

CHAPTER    V.— PLANTING    OR    SOWING   WHEAT. 

Time  to  Plant— Benefits  of  Early  Planting— Proper  Depth  to  Plant- 
Germination  of  Seeds — Quantity  of  Seed  to  the  Acre — Tools  and 
Implements 24 

CHAPTER    VI.— IMPORTANCE   OP   THE   WHEAT   CROP. 

Commerce  and  Population— Various  Statistics— Export  of  Wheat  in 
1830,  and  Since— English  Wheat  Growing  Decreasing 31 

CHAPTER    VII. —FLOUR    THE   FORM  IN  WHICH    TO   SELL  WHEAT. 

Milling  Employs  Many  Persons — Value  of  Bran  and  Shorts — Profits  of 
Milling— Incidental  Benefits— The  Straw  Not  to  be  Sold 36 

CHAPTER   VIII.— VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Varieties  Preferred  in  Different  States — Experiments  in  Missouri  Agri- 
cultural College — Experiments  in  Massachusetts — Varieties  Grown 
in  New  York — Experiments  in  Pennsylvania — Varieties  in  Tennes- 
see and  Virginia— Three  New  Varieties— Some  English  Pedigree 
Wheats..... 39 

(in) 


IV  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. — GREEN   MANURING   AND   PLOWING. 

Plowing-undcr  Green  Crops — Plowing  Prairie  Land,  Present  Way — 
Plowing  in  the  Gulf  States  .^. 50 

CHAPTER    X.— RECAPITULATION  OF   OPERATIONS. 

Eight  Important  Matters— More  Knowledge  Needed 53 

CHAPTER    XI.— EXAMPLES   OP   SUCCESSFUL  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

Other  Successful  Examples — Yield  and  Product  for  Sixteen  Years — 
Responses  to  My  Circulars — Queries  Contained  in  the  Circulars — 
Table  Giving  Condensed  Reports 56 

CHAPTER    XH.— EXTRACTS  FROM   LETTERS 62 

CHAPTER   XIII.— DISEASES  AND  INSECTS. 

Rust  and  Smut— The  Chinch  Bug  and  Hessian  Fly— Midges— Granary 
or  Barn  Weevil - -- 64 

CHAPTER  XIV.— To  PREVENT  WINTER-KILLING 68 

CHAPTER   XV.— IMPROVED  MACHINERY  AND  IMPLEMENTS 69 

CHAPTER   XVI.— ANALYSES  OF  WHEAT  AND  STRAW 70 

CHAPTER   XVII.— CONCLUSION..  ...72 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THIRD    EDITION. 


The  author  of  this  little  book  is  gratified  and  feels  a  reason- 
able pride  that  his  modest,  though  most  earnest  work  has 
proved  useful  to  and  been  approved  by  the  farming  com- 
munities of  our  country,  as  appears  quite  evident  from  the  fact 
that  all  of  the  first  two  editions  have  been  sold,  while  the  work 
is  still  called  for ;  hence,  this  third  and  improved  edition  is 
now  offered  to  the  public,  hoping  it  will  be  acceptable. 

That  large  and  growing  Order  of  farmers,  "  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry," will  find  this  volume  a  valuable  work  to  be  owned 
and  read  in  all  of  the  Granges  of  the  country — a  useful  guide 
and  manual  for  all  who  thoughtfully  read  it.  The  same  sug- 
gestion is  applicable  in  reference  to  that  other  growing  organ- 
ization, the  "  Farmers'  Alliance."  In  fact,  the  information  it 
contains  will  be  equally  useful  to  all  Farmers'  Clubs  and  Socie- 
ties in  every  part  of  the  country  where  our  wheat  is  much 
grown.  Our  country  cannot  easily  produce  too  much  wheat; 
the  populations  of  the  world — bread  eaters — are  constantly 
increasing,  while  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  numbers  of  acres 
of  land,  cannot  be  increased,  but  remains  stationary  ;  the  only 
way  to  enlarge  the  capacity  or  field  for  production  is  to  increase 
the  productiveness  of  the  present  limits  of  our  land  by  im- 
proved systems  of  cultivation ;  making  two  blades  to  grow 
where  but  one  grew  before,  as  it  were. 

As  it  appears  from  various  data,  the  entire  amount  of  wheat 
produced  per  annum  in  this  country  during  the  last  six  or  eight 
years,  ranges  from  three  hundred  millions  to  four  hundred  and 
forty-five  millions.  The  average  yield  per  acre  has  been  from 
about  twelve  to  fourteen  bushels  throughout  the  country, 
higher  than  that  in  some  States,  lower  in  others,  which  is  less 
than  half  of  what  it  should  and  could  be  with  reasonable,  skill- 
ful management ;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  many  wise,  careful  grow- 
ers, in  different  States,  obtain  as  high  as  from  thirty  to  fifty 
bushels  per  acre,  on  large  fields  of  only  fairly  good  lands,  from 
year  to  year.  [Growers  will  find  it  instructive  and  interesting 
to  carefully  read  page  61  of  this  work.] 

(v) 


VI  INTRODUCTION  TO   THIKD    EDITION. 

Statistics  show  the  fact  that  within  the  last  half  dozen  years 
the  average  yield  per  acre  has  been  raised  two  to  three  bushels 
in  many  of  the  States,  which  is  of  more  value  than  the  entire 
profits  of  most  growers — it  being  believed  that  many  farmers  do 
not  realize  in  clear  profit  the  price  of  two  bushels  per  acre.  This 
increased  yield  of  two  to  three  bushels  per  acre  is  wholly  the 
result  of  care  and  improved  methods  with  both  soil  and  seed, 
which  better  way,  if  observed  and  practised,  will  insure  similar 
desirable  results  wherever  adopted  ;  and  all  this  improved  cul- 
tivation is  what  is  plainly  and  earnestly  urged  and  explained  in 
this  work. 

From  various  statistics  we  learn  that  the  annual  export  of 
wheat  from  the  United  States  for  several  years  has  ranged  from 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty  million  bushels  to  one  hundred 
and  forty-five  million  bushels  ;  and  the  demand  must  continue 
to  increase  for  many  years,  and  the  United  States  will  be  the 
main  supply.  In  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Agricultural  De- 
partment it  may  be  seen  where  most  of  the  wheat  is  purchased 
and  consumed.  The  following  table,  in  those  reports  recently, 
ehows  the  following  quantity  of  wheat  and  of  flour  reduced  to 
wheat  purchased  by  Great  Britain  during  the  last  fifteen  years, 
in  bushels  of  sixty  pounds  : 

Countries.  Total  Quantity.  Yearly  Average. 

United  States 929,656,838  61,977,122 

Russia     246,991,629  16,466,109 

India          143,528,146  9,568,543 

Australasia 70,309,557  4,687,304 

Otber  countries- 428,362,405  28,557,494 

Total.. ....1,818,848,575          121,256,573 

By  these  figures  it  appears  that  the  United  States  supplies 
Great  Britain  with  as  much  wheat  and  flour  as  all  other  coun- 
tries combined  ;  and  it  is  hoped  and  believed  that  the  .knowledge 
of  the  above  important  facts  will  be  sufficient  to  stimulate  our 
farmers  to  make  all  honorable  efforts  to  create  the  most  fertile 
wheat  soils,  and  secure  the  largest  yields  and  richly  paying 
profits  in  their  grain  growing  operations,  which  it  is  possible 
for  human  intelligence  and  industry  to  achieve,  in  a  country 
and  climate  so  favorable  and  extensive  as  ours. 

D.  S.  CURTISS. 
Washington,  D.  C.,  August,  1888, 


WHEAT   CULTURE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

WHEAT    CULTURE. 

HOW  TO   IHCKEASE  THE  YIELD. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  average  yield  of  wheat 
in  this  country  is  absurdly  small,  being  only  about  four- 
teen bushels  per  acre — not  half  what  it  should  and  might 
be*  in  so  new  a  country — and  that  the  profits  of  growing 
it  are  correspondingly  light.  All  this  we  have  long  no- 
ticed with  regret,  and  that  feeling  has  stimulated  us  to 
prepare  this  little  work,  hoping  that  the  facts  presented 
in  it  may,  to  some  extent,  aid  the  growers  to  produce 
better  results,  to  secure  larger  yields,  and  thereby  larger 
profits. 

Whatever  a  man  believes  he  can  do,  if  it  be  proper 
and  he  desires  to  do  it,  he  is  very  likely  to  do.  It  is  to 
the  interest  of  wheat  growers  to  greatly  increase  their 
yield  per  acre,  to  even  double  the  prevailing  average  yield, 
and  thereby  double  their  profits.  We  are  well  satisfied 
that  this  can  be  done,  and  it  is  our  desire  and  aim  to 
convince  them  that  they  can  easily  do  it ;  then,  with 
that  faith,  they  will  be  sure  to  accomplish  the  result. 

We  believe  that  fuller  knowledge  and  more  thought 

among    farmers    generally   will    surely  lead  to    higher 

achievements  in  their   important  work;   that  increased 

knowledge  of  the  subject  will  secure  increased  yield,  and 

7 


8  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

also,  as  a  consequence,  afford  enlarged  profits  for  their 
operations. 

THE  FARMER'S  CAPITAL. 

Each  acre  of  land,  with  its  necessary  appurtenances, 
constitutes  the  farmer's  fixed  capital.  The  more  he  can 
produce  from  each  acre,  without  exhausting  his  soil,  the 
greater  will  be  his  interest  on  the  investment.  Labor, 
tools,  seed,  teams,  and  fertilizers,  are  the  temporary  capi- 
tal, and  this  capital  is  continually  consumed  and  worn 
out,  requiring  as  continually  to  be  replenished. 

Exhausting  or  robbing  the  soil  from  year  to  year  by 
improvident  management,  is  equivalent  to  a  man's  ex- 
pending or  reducing  his  capital — the  principal — instead 
of  only  the  interest  or  income.  All  business  men  know 
this  to  be  a  ruinous  performance,  which  will,  sooner  or 
later,  result  in  bankruptcy. 

If  a  farmer  has  ten  acres  of  land  it  is  so  much  invested 
capital,  and  if  by  judicious  culture  he  obtains  from  it 
three  hundred  bushels  of  wheat  each  year,  instead  of 
only  one  hundred  and  fifty  bushels,  it  is  so  much  in- 
creased income  for  the  capital  invested,  which  is  the 
value  of  the  ten  acres — say  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre, 
making  a  capital  of  one  thousand  dollars. 

COST  OF  RAISING  WHEAT. 

From  various  data  it  is  safe  to  assume  that,  on  the  ma- 
jority of  farms  throughout  the  country,  the  cost  of  rais- 
ing and  marketing  the  wheat  crop  is  about  ten  dollars 
per  acre,  including  taxes  and  interest  on  land  and  the 
wear  and  tear  of  tools.  Eeliable  statistics  for  the  past 
few  years  show  that  the  average  yield  per  acre  has  been 
about  fourteen  bushels,  and  the  average  price  of  wheat 
per  bushel  about  one  dollar,  giving  an  income  of  about 
fourteen  dollars  per  acre  annually,  and  a  profit  of  four 
dollars  per  acre  above  cost  of  production,  allowing  noth- 


WHEAT   CULTURE.  U 

ing  for  the  straw  and  refuse,  which  are  required  by,  or 
should  be  returned  to,  the  soil  to  leave  it  in  fair  condi- 
tion. This  gives  little  over  one-third  profit  on  the  cost 
of  the  crop. 

But,  as  a  business  transaction,  what  per  cent  of  inter- 
est does  it  afford  on  the  fixed  capital  invested  ?  It  gives 
four  per  cent  on  the  value  of  the  land  at  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  acre;  certainly  rather  less  than  active 
business  men  are  generally  contented  with.  It  will  do 
for  large  capitalists,  millionaires,  who  have  bank  and 
stock  investments,  and  who  give  no  labor  or  toil  to  earn 
and  secure  their  incomes,  but  is  too  small  return  for 
working  men  with  only  limited  investments  of  a  few 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  permanent  capital. 

Now,  suppose  that  by  doubling  the  expense  of  produc- 
tion in  labor  and  manure  to  twenty  dollars  per  acre,  and 
thereby  the  crop  or  yield  is  doubled  to  twenty-eight 
bushels  per  acre  of  wheat,  and,  as  in  the  other  case,  the 
wheat  is  worth  one  dollar  per  bushel,  the  profits  will  be 
eight  dollars  per  acre  instead  of  four,  and  the  interest  on 
the  capital  will  be  eight  dollars,  or  eight  per  cent,  just 
double,  without  doubling  the  capital ;  a  showing  that 
will  tell  pleasantly  on  the  prosperity  of  the  operator. 
These  calculations  can  be  carried  out  to  any  extent  and 
on  any  farm  operation  by  any  school-boy  or  the  farmer's 
children.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  farm  of  one  hundred 
acres,  on  which  it  is  desired  to  raise  one  thousand  bush- 
els of  wheat  every  year  ;  at  twenty  bushels  the  acre,  fifty 
acres  would  be  required  for  the  desired  crop ;  but  at  forty 
bushels,  which  many  obtain,  only  twenty-five  acres  would 

be  required  for  one  thousand  bushels. 

• 

WHAT    THE    DEPARTMENT   OF   AGRICULTURE   SHOULD   DO. 

The  results — improved  agriculture  and  increased  yield 
of  wheat — which  this  little  work  is  endeavoring  to  bring 
about,  should  be  a  leading  object  and  an  important  part 


10  WHEAT  CULTUEE. 

of  the  business  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  That 
Department  should,  long  before  this,  have  adopted  the 
practice  of  sending  thousands  of  circulars  to  intelligent 
practical  farmers  in  all  wheat-growing  portions  of  the 
nation,  submitting  interrogatories  and  requests  for  an- 
swers, in  order  to  obtain  statements  and  reports  of  the 
largest  yield,  and  the  average  yield,  per  acre  of  wheat  in 
each  locality,  together  with  the  details  of  the  modes  and 
conditions  under  which  large  yields  and  poor  yields  were 
produced,  also  the  kind  of  seed  and  soil  employed  in 
the  operation,  and  then  publish  the  replies. 

Such  reports  and  details  would  afford  highly  practical 
and  useful  lessons,  and  aid  others  in  obtaining  higher  re- 
sults by  such  examples  ;  but  probably  we  shall  not  have 
such  practical  service  from  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture very  soon  ;  at  least,  not  until  the  agricultural  papers 
everywhere  speak  out,  and  the  farming  community  rise 
up  in  their  might  and  demand  the  appointment  of  an 
earnest,  honest,  capable  agriculturist  to  fill  the  important 
position  of  Commissioner,  one  who  is  not  a  speculator, 
seeking  eclat,  and  who  will  have  more  regard  for  the  best 
interests  of  agriculture  than  for  his  own  purse  and  noto- 
riety. Such  an  official  would  make  the  Department  a 
benefit  to  the  farmers. 

Of  the  vast  and  vital  importance  of  agriculture  Mr. 
William  Saunders  some  time  ago  wrote:  "At  no  time 
in  our  nation's  history,  more  than  at  the  present,  has  there 
been  greater  necessity  for  the  encouragement  by  Govern- 
ment of  this  'Art  of  Arts' — Agriculture — which  is  the 
foundation  of  wealth  and  greatness ;  for  to  that  source 
we  must  look  for  the  means  of  paying  the  national  debt. 
It  is  the  fountain  whence  must  flow  that  material  aid 
without  which  it  is  impossible  for  civilized  peoples  to 
exist." 

Nothing  is  truer  than  the  above  remark.  The  farmer 
feeds  all,  and  he  pays  most  of  the  Government  expenses ; 


THE   WHEAT   PLANT.  11 

he  is  taxed,  through  the  tariff  laws,  on  everything  he 
buys,  to  give  gain  and  wealth  to  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing classes. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    WHEAT    PLANT. 

GEOGRAPHICAL  HISTORY. 

Writers  on  the  subject  differ  widely  as  to  the  original 
home  of  our  great  bread  cereal,  Wheat  ( Triticum  vul- 
gar e).  Some  state  it  to  be  India ;  others  Persia,  and  we 
find  it  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Holy  Bible.  The 
earliest  recorded  history  of  man  shows  it  to  have  been 
among  his  breadstuff s,  and  it  has  nourished  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  wherever  civilized  people  have  made  their 
habitation.  Of  course  all  localities  where  this  grain  may 
possibly  be  grown  are  not  equally  favorable  to  it.  To 
understand  the  best  conditions  for  successfully  growing 
wheat  is  of  more  importance  at  this  time  than  to  know  pre- 
cisely its  original  home,  though  knowing  that  fact  is  of 
some  moment  as  indicating,  to  some  degree,  the  most 
suitable  conditions  for  greatest  success  in  its  cultivation. 

It  is  stated,  and  generally  understood,  that  wheat  first 
came  to  the  United  States  from  Mexico,  and  that  it  was 
introduced  into  that  country  by  Cortez,  or  during  his 
administration.  One  of  the  beneficent  provisions  of  Di- 
vine Providence  in  regard  to  wheat  is  that  it  will  flourish, 
to  some  extent,  in  a  wider  range  of  country,  climate  and 
soil,  than  any  other  bread  grain  now  in  use,  thereby  ren- 
dering it  the  most  valuable  of  all  for  the  human  race ; 
but  possibly  Oats  (Avena)  will  flourish  in  a  warmer  cli- 


12  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

mate,   and  Barley   (Hordeum)   in    a   colder,   than  our 
wheats. 

BOTANICAL  ORIGIN. 

Botanical  authors  differ  about  as  widely  as  do  others  as 
to  the  origin  or  derivation  of  the  wheat  plant,  Triticum. 
Some  of  them  maintain  that  wheat  sprang  from  an  in- 
ferior grain  or  grass,  and  from  that  has  been  improved 
by  cultivation,  up  to  the  superior  grain  which  we  now 
find  it.  Others  contend  that  it  was  originally,  and  from 
the  beginning,  a  pure,  absolute  wheat,  with  all  the  char- 
acteristics that  it  now  presents,  with  increased  excellence 
attained  by  cultivation,  in  some  varieties,  as  is  the  case 
with  horses,  where  the  thorough-bred  specimens  show 
superior  points  to  the  common  farm  horse. 

The  former  class  contend  that  wheat  is  derived  from 
JEgilops  ovata,  a  handsome  grass,  one  to  two  feet  high, 
resembling  wheat  more  than  other  grasses  do,  but  more 
like  barley  than  wheat,  and  found  in  the  countries  bor- 
dering on  the  Mediterranean  and  Adriatic  Seas.  It  is 
held  that  this  grass  simply,  by  good  culture,  has  resulted 
in  what  is  now  our  wheat.  But  in  writing  this  little 
work  it  is  not  our  aim  or  province  to  settle  these  disputed 
questions,  in  which  the  doctors  disagree. 

Another  beautiful  characteristic  of  this  chief  of  the 
cereals  is  its  wonderful  susceptibility  to  modifying  in- 
fluences, resulting,  under  intelligent  management  of 
growers,  in  the  production  of  new  varieties,  adapted  to 
great  differences  of  circumstances,  and  rewarding  the 
cultivators  with  grains  suited  to  their  peculiar  situations 
and  necessities.  Ten  or  a  dozen  species  of  Triticum  are 
mentioned  by  some  writers ;  while  others  refer  all  our 
cultivated  wheats  to  a  single  species,  with  hundreds  of 
varieties. 

Great  changes  in  wheat  are  effected  by  two  processes, 
that  of  hybridizing,  and  what  is  called  the  pedigree  sys- 


THE   WHEAT   PLANT.  13 

tern ;  both  modes  have  given  valuable  sorts  of  wheat. 
The  pedigree  system  is  best  and  most  convenient ;  it  con- 
sists in  selecting,  from  year  to  year,  the  best  specimens, 
saving  them  for  seed  and  planting  them  year  after  year. 

SPRING  AND  WINTER  WHEAT. 

The  great  mass  of  the  wheat  grown  in  this  country  is 
the  Triticum  vulgare,  which  is  divided  into  two  sub- 
species or  races — T.  hibernum,  Winter  Wheat;  and  I7.  CBS- 
tivum,  Spring  Wheat.  These  are  arranged  in  many 
groups,  as  the  bald  and  bearded,  the  hard  and  soft,  the 
white  and  red  ;  and  still  further  subdivided  as  varieties 
which  are  known  by  texture  and  color  of  the  kernel,  the 
color  and  quality  of  the  chaff  or  straw,  and  by  many 
other  characteristics  which  need  not  be  enumerated  here. 

In  regions  where  forests  abound,  and  where  heavy 
loam  or  clay  lands  exist,  winter  varieties  of  wheat  are 
most  suitable.  For  light,  friable  soils,  like  the  prairies, 
where  there  is  but  little  snow,  and  the  soil  is  liable  to  be 
blown  away,  spring  varieties  succeed  best,  because,  be- 
ing planted  in  spring,  they  are  not  subject  to  be  laid 
bare  and  destroyed  by  winter  wind  and  frost.  On  moist 
lands,  such  as  river-bottoms  and  alluvial  formations,  the 
rapid-growing,  quick-ripening  varieties  (whether  winter 
or  spring)  succeed  best.  Maturing  in  shorter  time,  they 
are  more  likely  to  escape  rust  and  other  calamities  inci- 
dent to  such  localities. 

Yet,  almost  every  natural  land  can,  by  proper  man- 
agement, be  made  a  fair  wheat  soil.  Under-draining, 
thorough  pulverization,  and  a  fair  supply  of  vegetable 
manures,  with  ashes  or  lime,  will  render  sand,  gravel,  or 
clay  land  a  suitable  soil  for  successful  wheat-growing. 
But,  first  of  all,  it  must  be  well  drained  and  made  fine 
and  rich. 


14  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

CHAPTER  III. 
HOW  TO  OBTAIN  A  LARGE  YIELD. 

Besides  the  minor  details,  there  are  six  essential  re- 
quisites for  the  production  of  uniformly  large  yields,  per 
acre,  of  sound  wheat. 

FIRST — UNDER-DRAINING. 

There  must  absolutely  be  a  well-drained,  deep,  porous, 
warm  subsoil,  to  the  depth  of  at  least  two  feet,  with  no 
stagnant  water,  in  order  that  air  and  moisture  may  freely 
circulate  through  all  parts  of  the  earth  to  that  depth, 
which  will  also  allow  the  plant  roots  to  run  down  and 
spread  out  easily  for  their  necessary  nourishment.  Where 
the  land  is  naturally  of  a  loose  texture,  as  gravel  and 
sand,  to  a  goodly  depth,  or  with  a  gravelly  sub-soil,  the 
artificial  drainage  is  less  needed. 

SECOND — DEEP  CULTIVATION. 

Deep  cultivation  by  the  sub-soil  plow,  is  absolutely 
necessary,  to  the  depth  of  at  least  twelve  to  fifteen  inches, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  land — whether  porous  or 
tenacious  and  hard — so  as  to  enable  the  soil  to  retain 
moisture  in  a  dry  time,  and  to  allow  an  excess  to  pass 
off  readily  in  a  wet  season,  as  well  as  to  allow  the  roots 
to  have  easy,  wide  range.  Deep  cultivation  is,  therefore, 
equally  beneficial  against  the  effects  of  drouth  as  against 
the  drowning  of  the  plants ;  being  loose  and  mellow  to 
a  goodly  depth,  moisture  from  below  can  freely  rise  to 
the  surface  when  it  is  dry  and  hot,  and  heavy  rains  can 
readily  sink  down  when  they  form  surplus  water  on  the 
surface.  This  operation  does  not  require  the  raw  sub-soil 
to  be  brought  to  the  top. 


HOW   TO    OBTAIN    A   LARGE   YIELD.  15 

Most  of  the  advantages  of  sub-soil  plowing  and  deep 
cultivation  will  be  lost  or  not  realized,  and  even  injury  be 
done,  if  the  land  be  not  also  well  under-drained  to  a  con- 
siderable depth — two  feet  at  least — because  the  deep 
plowing  makes  a  basin  of  the  land  so  plowed,  where  sur- 
plus water  will  settle  and  remain  stagnant,  unless  there 
are  sufficient  drains  at  a  lower  depth  than  the  plowing, 
to  freely  carry  off  all  excess  of  water.  But  the  drainage 
being  ample,  the  land  cannot  well  be  broken  too  deeply 
for  best  results  in  wheat-gr.owing.  •'Let  the  sub-soil  plow- 
ing be  done  so  as  not  to  bring  much  of  the  raw,  stiff 
under-earth  to  the  top  at  first,  and  the  next  year  it  will 
be  first-rate  soil  for  grain. 

THIED — PULVERIZATION"  OF  THE   SOIL. 

Perfect  pulverization,  by  fine  plowing,  harrowing,  and 
rolling,  is  highly  important,  and  will  be  productive  of 
beneficial  results,  in  giving  large  yields,  and  will  preserve 
the  fertility  and  strength  of  the  land,  by  preparing  the  soil 
and  putting  it  in  that  comminuted  form  in  which  the 
rootlets  can  absorb  and  appropriate  a  greater  portion  of 
the  nutriment  than  when  it  is  in  a  lumpy  condition.  In 
fact,  the  constituents  of  the  soil  cannot  be  brought  into 
that  state  of  solution  in  which  they  must  be  before  plants 
can  appropriate  them,  until  the  soil  is  made  very  fine.  ^Ho 
part  of  the  earth,  no  matter  how  rich  it  may  be,  is  avail- 
able for  plant  use,  until  it  is  very  finely  pulverized. 
Hence,  much  crushing,  stirring,  and  culture  is  necessary. 

FOURTH— ALKALI   AND   SOLUBLE   SILICA. 

There  must  be  a  liberal  quantity  of  alkali  and  soluble 
silica  in  the  soil,  in  order  to  enable  it  to  produce  a  heavy 
crop  of  healthy  wheat.  Alkaline  matters,  such  as  potash 
and  lime,  must  be  in  the  soil,  to  operate  with  the  air  and 
moisture  in  dissolving  all  the  required  elements  or  ingre- 


16  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

dients,  in  order  that  they  may  be  taken  uj>  in  plant 
growth  ;  otherwise  failure  is  certain.  Liebig  and  other 
chemists  and  experimenters  have  proved  that  but  small 
quantities  of  potash  and  silica  are  necessary,  but  that 
these  small  quantities  are  absolutely  essential,  as  are 
moisture  and  air — those  powerful  solvents  which  reduce 
the  constituents  of  the  soil  to  a  liquid  state,  so  that  plants 
can  use  them. 

FIFTH — CLOVER  AND   PLASTER. 

With  the  above  preparation  thoroughly  made — that  is, 
under-draining  and  sub-soiling — plaster,  on  clover  plowed 
under  in  rank  growth,  and  with  the  use  of  good  seed 
wheat — a  yield  of  thirty  to  forty  bushels  the  acre  of  sound 
wheat  will  be  the  result,  three  years  out  of  four,  as 
surely  as  fifteen  to  twenty  is  from  the  ordinary  farm 
operations.  If  the  drainage  be  thoroughly  done,  and  the 
sub- soiling  well  done,  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  deep,  the 
sub-soiling  will  not  be  required  oftener  than  every  four 
or  five  years,  and  the  ordinary  plowing  need  not  be  more 
than  six  or  seven  inches  deep  in  the  intermediate  years, 
and  for  plowing  under  clover  or  other  green  crops,  or 
any  manure,  the  plowing  need  not  be  more  than  five  or 
six  inches  deep,  with  mellow  sub-soil. 

In  order  not  to  bring  raw  sub-soil  to  the  surface,  it  is 
best  to  cut  the  main  furrow  eight  to  ten  inches  deep  with 
a  large  plow  and  stout  team.  Then  follow  in  that  furrow 
with  a  single  horse  and  small,  narrow  plow,  which  will 
break  the  sub-earth  four  to  six  inches  deeper  and  not 
quite  so  wide  as  the  first  furrow,  and  the  next  furrow 
will  fall  into  and  cover  the  small  one,  leaving  the  old 
surface  soil  still  near  the  top.  Most  farmers  know  of 
and  have  used  the  small,  sharp  sub-soil  plows  made  on 
purpose  for  that  work,  and  to  great  advantage. 

It  is  found  to  be  a  good  plan  to  apply  the  alkalies — 
ashes,  lime,  potash,  and  salt,  or  whatever  is  used — to  tl^e 


HOW  TO   OBTAIN  A   LARGE   YIELD.  17 

ground  just  before  sowing  or  planting  the  wheat,  and 
then  harrow  them  into  the  surface  at  the  rate  of  ten  to 
fifteen  bushels  of  lime,  or  six  to  eight  bushels  of  ashes  or 
salt  to  the  acre. 

SIXTH — SELECTION  AND  PREPARATION  OF  THE  SEED. 

Proper  selection  and  preparation  of  seed  are  all-essential 
in  getting  highest  results  in  wheat  growing.  Seed  should 
be  perfectly  ripe,  gathered,  thrashed  and  binned  without 
the  least  wetting  or  moulding,  and  without  being  cracked 
or  heated  in  the  lightning  thrashers ;  it  should  be  per- 
fectly screened  and  cleaned  in  the  fanning  mill.  Farm- 
ers would,  in  the  long  run,  be  the  gainers  if  they  would 
each  year  gather  with  the  grain  cradle  and  thrash  by 
hand  with  flail  on  a  clean  barn  floor,  sufficient  wheat  for 
seed,  selecting  the  best  growth  in  their  fields,  and  letting 
it  stand  until  perfectly  ripe,  taking  that  which  seems  to 
be  earliest  in  ripening.  When  ready  to  plant,  soak  the 
seed  six  to  ten  hours  in  brine,  and  roll  in  plaster  to  dry 
it  for  the  drill. 

In  regard  to  seeding  with  clover  and  grass,  there  are 
several  modes  and  varieties,  and  differences  of  opinion 
among  growers.  Our  own  experience  for  several  years 
in  different  States,  on  various  soils,  as  well  as  considera- 
ble observation  and  reading,  lead  us  to  believe  that  Red- 
top  is  better  than  Timothy  to  seed  with  Clover,  princi- 
pally because  it  comes  to  maturity  nearer  the  same  time 
with  the  clover ;  and  we  think  early  spring  is  the  best 
time  to  sow  the  clover,  say  on  the  last  snows  of  the  sea- 
son, or  during  the  first  spring  showers,  or  just  before 
them,  so  that  they  will  cover  the  seed  into  the  soil  and 
cause  early  germination;  but  we  would  sow  the  grass 
seed  (Red-top,  Timothy,  or  Orchard-grass)  at  the  time  of 
sowing  the  wheat,  so  that  it  may  get  a  start  in  the  fall. 


18  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

INCIDENTAL   REQUIREMENTS  TO  A   LARGE    YIELD. 
PREPARING  THE   SEED-BED. 

Incidental  to  the  six  essential  points  named,  is  the 
planting  of  the  seed  and  the  immediate  preparation  of 
the  surface  to  receive  it.  The  ground  should  be  more 
thoroughly  harrowed  than  some  farmers  do  it,  to  level 
and  fine  it  as  completely  as  possible,  but  all  farmers  well 
know  that  the  harrow  will  not  crush  the  lumps,  though 
it  cuts  some  of  them  to  pieces  while  it  pushes  others 
aside.  The  roller  crushes  and  finely  powders  nearly  all 
of  the  surface  soil,  making  a  fine  seed-bed  for  the  drill 
to  run  through  and  plant  the  seed,  which  it  leaves  in 
shallow  gutters,  lightly  covered  with  small  ridges  each 
side.  The  ridges  prevent  the  seed  and  young  plant  from 
being  blown  bare  in  high  winds,  and  will  also  catch  the 
snow  and  hold  it  to  cover  and  shelter  the  wheat. 

TOP-DRESSING — INSECTS  AND  DISEASES. 

When  the  grain  is  well  up  in  the  fall,  it  will  more  than 
pay  the  cost  to  spread  six  or  eight  bushels  of  plaster  to 
the  acre  on  the  crop,  and  after  the  frosts  appear  and  the 
plants  begin  to  be  dormant,  a  dressing  of  four  to  six  bush- 
els of  common  salt,  per  acre,  will  be  worth  more  than  the 
outlay,  not  only  by  making  the  crop  more  luxuriant,  but 
also  by  affording  much  security  against  injury  by  rust 
and  insects.  In  the  spring  again,  as  soon  as  the  ground 
is  dry  enough  to  allow  of  walking  over  it  comfortably,  a 
dressing  of  four  or  five  bushels  to  the  acre  of  fine  lime 
will  afford  still  further  security  against  all  insects  or  dis- 
eases. Sowing  lime  and  plaster  as  a  top-dressing,  fall 
and  spring,  is  needed  for  each  crop,  but  the  ten  or  fifteen 


REQUIREMENTS  TO   A    LARGE   YIELD.  19 

bushels  applied  in  preparing  the  soil  will  be  sufficient  if 
given  once  in  three  years. 

THE  AVERAGE  YIELD   DOUBLED. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  system  above 
marked  out,  if  faithfully  carried  out  for  five  years  or 
longer,  will  as  surely  give  all  the  growers  who  .practice  it 
more  than  double  the  average  yield  per  acre  of  wheat,  as 
the  common  practice  gives  that  average.  Every  one  who 
reads  this  can  calculate  the  cost,  and  ho  will  find  that, 
although  it  will  cost  him  less  than  one-half  more  per 
acre,  it  will  as  surely  give  him  full  double  returns,  and 
generally  even  more  than  double.  Every  farmer  knows 
that  it  will  cost  very  little,  or  no  more,  to  cut  and  gather 
an  acre  which  yields  thirty  bushels,  than  one  that  yields 
only  fifteen.  It  costs  no  more  to  plant  it,  so  that  all  the 
extra  cost  is  in  sub-soil  plowing  and  top-dressing  with 
the  lime  and  plaster,  and  preparing  the  seed. 

IMPROVED   DRILLS  AND  WHEAT  HOES. 

But  if  the  grower  would  still  further  increase  his  yield, 
and  without  proportionally  increasing  the  expense,  he  can 
effect  it  by  first  using  the  improved  drill  points.  These 
spread  the  seed-grain  further  apart  than  the  ordinary 
drill,  require  less  seed,  distribute  more  evenly  in  the  soil, 
and  give  the  same  quantity  of  plants  more  room  to  grow 
and  receive  air  and  light  freely. 

Also,  let  it  be  planted  in  drills  wide  apart  (fourteen  to 
sixteen  inches),  so  that  it  may  be  hoed  between  the  drills 
in  fall  and  spring,  with  either  hand-hoes  or  horse-hoes, 
which  can  be  done  by  either  running  a  corn-cultivator 
through  it,  or,  better  still,  by  the  use  of  tha  new  wheat 
hoe  shown  in  figure  1. 

Hoeing  wheat  is  very  much  in  favor  by  those  who  have 
practised  it,  and  is  said  to  largely  increase  the  yield,  and 


20  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

to  generally  give  a  better  quality  of  grain.  It  is  much 
practised  in  England  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  and  has 
been  adopted  by  some  growers  in  this  country,  who  uni- 
formly acknowledge  valuable  results  therefrom.  Among 
other  advantages  claimed  for  it  are  these :  it  more  than 
doubles  the  yield  for  a  given  quantity  of  land  and  seed 
by  allowing  much  better  tillering  out ;  it  keeps  the  land 
clean,  any  cockle  or  other  weeds  can  readily  be  removed 


Fig.  1.— THE  WHEAT  HOB  AT  WORK. 

that  may  get  into  the  rows  of  wheat ;  better  opportunity 
is  afforded  to  dislodge  insects  and  to  apply  ashes,  lime, 
plaster,  sulphur,  or  other  remedies,  for  diseases  and  in- 
sects; the  grain  is  more  pleasantly  cut  and  gathered, 
giving  twice  the  profit  on  every  acre. 

The  engravings,  figures  2  and  3,  show  the  difference 
between  wheat  not  hoed  and  that  hoed. 

EARLY  HARVESTING. 

One  important  operation  to  assure  large  profits  from 
the  wheat  crop,  is  early  harvesting,  as  soon  as  it  is  passing 


REQUIREMENTS   TO   A   LARGE   YIELD.  21 

out  of  the  milk  into  the  dough  state.  This  course  is  too 
little  known  or  observed  by  the  great  majority  of  farmers, 
and,  when  better  understood,  will  be  more  widely  adopted. 
Five  very  important  advantages,  besides  several  lesser  ones, 
are  derived  from  harvesting  the  wheat  crop  thus  early  : 

First — It  is  largely  a  preventive  of  injury  by  rust,  as 
rust  ceases  to  affect  the  grain  as  soon  as  it  is  cut,  while 


Fig.   2.— WHEAT  IN  CLOSE    DRILLS,   UNCULTIVATED. 

the  substance  in  the  straw  perfects  the  grain  if  cut  in 
the  milk  state.  Second — It  gives  more  and  heavier  grain. 
Third — It  gives  more  and  better  flour  to  the  bushel,  as  all 
the  time  the  grain  stands,  after  the  dough  state,  it  makes 
bran  at  the  expense  of  starch  and  flour.-  Fourth — It 
causes  less  waste  by  shelling  and  scattering  while  har- 


Fig.   3.— WHEAT  WIDE  APART  AND  HOED — TILLERED  OUT. 

vesting  and  handling.  Fifth — The  harvesting  can  be 
sooner  begun  and  out  of  the  way,  for  other  work,  and  is 
more  pleasantly  done,  as  the  straw  is  tougher  and  softer 
to  handle  than  when  perfectly  ripe.  For  flour  and  milling 
purposes,  wheat  cut  early  is  the  best,  but  the  small 
quantity  needed  for  seed  should  stand  until  perfectly  ripe. 

RUST — ITS   PREVENTION. 

A  writer  in  the  "  Tecumseh  (Mich.)  Herald"  com- 
municates the  following  on  the  subject  of  early  harvest  of 
wheat  :— "  Rust  in  wheat  is  caused,  among  other  things, 
by  exhaustion  in  the  soil  of  requisite  mineral  matters, 


22  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

such  as  soluble  silica,  potash,  and  some  others,  which  are 
required  to  make  stiff,  bright,  well  glazed  straw ;  and 
this  condition  is  aggravated,  or  rather  operated  upon,  by 
climatic  changes,  to  produce  fungi  or  rust.  When  the 
straw  is  too  tender  and  soft,  lacking  sufficient  flinty  or 
glazed  covering,  which  is  the  case  when  it  grows  too  suc- 
culent with  excess  of  nitrogenous  and  lack  of  mineral 
matters,  it  is  liable  to  be  ruptured  if  suddenly  struck  by 
the  sun  while  damp.  When  this  state  of  things  occurs, 
an  immediate  sprinkling  of  plaster  or  of  lime  has  been 
sometimes  known  to  arrest  the  disease  and  prevent  serious 
diaster  to  the  grain  ;  but  when  it  occurs  late  enough  to 
find  the  grain  advanced  to  the  milk  or  dough  state,  im- 
mediately cutting  the  grain  will  save  it  from  injury  by 
the  rust,  and  secure  a  crop  of  sound  wheat  with  some- 
what injured  straw  only." 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  INDIANA. 

He  also  quotes  an  early  writer,  in  the  agricultural 
reports  from  Indiana,  who  gives  the  following  facts  in  his 
own  experience  : 

"  He  sowed  three  equal  fields  of  similar  quality  of  soil, 
and  same  kind  of  seed,  to  wheat,  in  September.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  June  following,  rust  appeared  in  all  three 
fields  ;  the  wheat  was  just  in  the  dough  state.  On  that 
day  he  cut  one  of  the  fields  ;  the  second  day  he  cut  an- 
other field,  leaving  them  lying  to  cure  in  the  swath,  as 
the  grain  was  quite  green,  in  the  dough  state.  Four  days 
later  he  cut  the  third  field,  which,  by  this  time,  was 
badly  rusted.  Upon  thrashing  and  weighing  the  grain, 
separately,  of  each  field,  he  found  that  No.  1  (the  first 
cut)  gave  twelve  bushels  the  acre  of  grain,  weighing 
fifty-six  pounds  the  measured  bushel ;  No.  2  gave  eight 
bushels  the  acre,  weighing  forty-six  pounds  ;  and  No.  3 
gave  less  than  the  seed  sown,  of  poor  grain." 

"  In  1858,  ten  years  later,  rust  made  its  appearance 


REQUIREMENTS   TO    A.   LARGE   YIELD.  23 

again  on  his  place,  and  he  made  another  test  of  the 
utility  of  early  harvest,  with  three  patches  of  wheat.  The 
third  week  in  June,  when  rust  struck  all  of  his  wheat,  he 
at  once  cut  one  Held,  while  very  green,  just  passing  out 
of  the  milk  ;  two  days  after  he  cut  the  second  field ; 
three  days  later  still  he  cut  the  third,  by  which  time  the 
rust  was  very  bad.  The  early  cut  was  left  to  cure  in  the 
swath.  He  thrashed  and  weighed  each  parcel  separately, 
as  in  the  former  experiment.  The  first  cut  gave  twenty- 
five  bushels  the  acre,  weighing  sixty-one  pounds  the 
bushel ;  the  second  lot  only  half  as  much,  and  weighing 
fifty-six  pounds  the  bushel  ;  and  the  third  lot  much 
poorer  than  the  second." 

Here  are  instructive  lessons  in  regard  to  early  harvest 
and  rust. 

EXPERIMENTS   IK    ENGLAND. 

"An  English  farmer  reports  cutting  three  lots  of 
wheat  at  different  stages  of  maturity — in  the  milk,  in  the 
dough,  and  fully 'ripe.  He  thrashed  separately,  and  had 
one  hundred  pounds  of  each  carefully  ground  and  the 
results  weighed.  The  one  hundred  pounds  of  wheat,  cut 
in  the  milk,  made  seventy-five  pounds  of  flour,  eleven 
pounds  shorts,  twelve  pounds  bran  ;  that  cut  in  the 
dough  made  eighty  pounds  flour,  five  pounds  shorts, 
thirteen  pounds  bran  ;  that  cut  fully  ripe  made  seventy- 
two  pounds  flour,  eleven  pounds  shorts,  fifteen  pounds 
bran  ;  two  pounds  lost  by  milling  in  each  case.  This 
shows  the  dough  state  made  most  flour,  and  the  ripest 
made  the  least  flour  and  most  bran."  Bran  is  made  at 
the  expense  of  flour,  by  standing  late. 

Mr.  Reid,  of  Indiana,  reports  to  the  Agricultural  De- 
partment that  he  cut  half  of  a  fifty-acre  field  of  Mediter- 
ranean wheat  in  the  dough  state  ;  the  balance  ten  days 
later.  The  first  gave  most  bushels,  and  weighed  sixty- 
five  pounds  ;  the  last,  less  bushels,  weighing  only  sixty 
pounds  ;  the  first  also  made  more  and  better  flour. 


24  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

CHAPTER   V. 

PLANTING  OR  SOWING  WHEAT. 
TIME  TO   PLAKT. 

In  this  matter,  as  in  most  others  connected  with  plant 
life,  it  is  safe  to  take  nature  as  a  guide  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. In  most  cases  her  ways  and  habits  are  the  true  ones  ; 
and,  in  the  operation  of  planting  our  grains,  that  guide  is 
eminently  correct,  making  due  allowances  for  the  changed 
conditions  of  artificial  sowing.  Hence  early  planting  is 
the  correct  system,  as  nature  usually  plants  the  seed  very 
soon  after  it  is  ripe  and  ready  to  fall  from  the  parent 
plant.  This  would  indicate  that  wheat  should  be  planted 
as  soon  after  becoming  ripe  as  the  soil  can  be  made  ready 
to  receive  the  seed,  after  harvest  and  thrashing.  There 
will  be  little  danger  of  rust  or  insects,  however  early  the 
grain  may  be  sown,  if  the  seed  is  well  soaked  in  brine 
and  dried  in  plaster  or  lime,  if  the  land  is  well  drained 
and  deeply  cultivated,  and  if,  furthermore,  the  crop 
be  liberally  dressed  with  salt,  lime,  or  plaster,  in  late 
autumn  or  early  spring.  There  will,  also,  be  little  or  no 
danger  of  too  rank  growth,  or  blasting,  or  shrinking,  if 
the  soil  be  well  pulverized  and  deeply  cultivated,  with 
a  fair  supply  of  potash  or  lime  to  secure  a  sufficiency  of 
soluble  silica  to  make  sound,  healthy  straw  and  chaff. 
With  all  the  proper,  natural  conditions,  early  planting  is 
surely  the  best — from  August  first  to  September  fifteenth, 
according  to  locality. 

On  this  point  Mr.  C.  E.  Thorne,  of  the  Ohio  Univer- 
sity Farm,  makes  the  following  report  of  his  experi- 
ments : 

"A  piece  of  bottom  land,  about  ten  rods  wide  by  thirty 
long,  was  laid  off  in  five  equal  strips,  each  two  rods  wide, 


PLANTING   OR  SOWING    WHEAT. 

and  all  sown  with  Clawson  wheat — with  seed  at  the  same 
rate  per  acre — on  the  ninth,  sixteenth,  twenty-third,  and 
thirtieth  of  September,  and  the  seventh  of  October, 
1878. 

"The  results  were  as  follows  :  Strip  sown  September 
ninth  yielded  at  the  rate  of  thirty-three  and  one-fifth 
bushels  per  acre  ;  strip  sown  September  sixteenth  yielded 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  and  three-tenths  bushels  per  acre ; 
strip  sown  September  twenty-third  yielded  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-six  and  two-fifths  bushels  per  acre ;  strip  sown 
September  thirtieth  yielded  at  the  rate  of  thirty-two  and 
seven-tenths  bushels  per  acre,  and  strip  sown  October 
seventh  yielded  at  the  rate  of  twenty-six  and  one-fifth 
bushels  per  acre." 

Here  it  will  be  seen  that  the  seed  sown -in  the  last  half 
of  September  yielded  best. 

BENEFITS  OF  EARLY  PLANTING. 

Some  of  the  benefitg  of  early  planting  are  that  it  will 
secure  a  stronger  growth  of  plants  during  autumn  for  en- 
during the  winter,  giving  them  more  power  to  resist  any 
calamity  that  may  attack  the  crop,  besides  giving  more 
time  for  tillering-out  and  making  a  good  fruitful  stool ; 
and  should  any  grower  fear  that  his  crop  will  make  too 
stout  a  growth,  he  can  feed  it  down  or  mow  'it  off,  either 
1  being  preferable  to  having  a  slim,  late  crop.     We  find 
1  the  majority  of  testimony  among  intelligent,  observing 
1  experimenters,  to  be  largely  in  favor  of  early  planting, 
as  early,  at  least,  as  the  middle  of  September,  while  our 
own  opinion,  from  many  years'  experience,  is  that  even 
fifteen  to  twenty  days  earlier  than  that  is  preferable — say 
from  the  tenth  of  August  to  the  first  of  September. 

And  when  the  great  mass  of  farmers  come  to  know 

and  prize  the  many  benefits  of  early  harvest,  they  will 

also  see  the  utility  of  uniformly  planting  earlier  than  is 

now  the  common  custom;  this  will  bring  forward  ear- 

2 


26  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

Her  harvests,  leaving  time  and  room  to  make  more  per- 
fect preparations  for  early  planting.  But  with  early 
harvesting  of  the  main  crop,  a  portion  of  the  largest  and 
finest  of  the  grain,  sufficient  for  their  needed  seed,  should 
be  left  standing  to  ripen  perfectly,  to  be  gathered  by  hand 
with  cradle  or  sickle,  and  then  also  thrashed  by  hand 
with  the  flail. 

Many  more  arguments  or  reasons  could  be  given  for 
early  planting  or  early  harvesting,  but  space  requires  us 
to  be  brief. 

PROPER  DEPTH  TO  PLANT. 

In  the  matter  of  depth  to  plant,  as  in  regard  to  time 
of  sowing,  nature's  methods  may  be  considered,  making 
due  allowance  for  attendant  circumstances.  Nature 
drops  the  seed  on  the  surface,  then  covers  it  very  slightly 
with  only  dust  and  light  leaf -mould  or  straw  and  chaff 
from  the  parent  plant  and  surrounding  litter  to  shelter 
it  from  the  sun-rays ;  she  fflants  in  the  shade,  where  de- 
caying matters  cover  and  nourish  until  the  plant  is  fairly 
rooted,  but  she  never  plants  deeply  nor  covers  heavily. 

Several  circumstances  must  dictate  the  proper  depth 
for  wheat  in  different  localities,  such  as  the  kind  of  soil, 
the  degree  of  temperature  and  moisture,  and  the  season 
at  which  the  planting  is  done ;  these  and  other  condi- 
tions must^  more  or  less,  control  the  matter,  so  that  no 
invariable  rule  can  be  laid  down  for  all  situations  and 
periods,  but  much  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  and  skill 
of  the  operator.  In  light,  porous  soils,  that  are  rather 
dry  and  warm,  more  depth  of  covering  will  be  needed 
than  in  heavy,  moist  lands.  About  one  inch  in  the  for- 
mer and  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  the  latter  will  not  be 
far  from  right,  as  a  general  practice.  A  depth  of  not 
less  than  three-fourths  of  an  inch  nor  more  than  an  inch 
and  a  half  are  probably  the  extremes  for  wheat,  to  secure 
the  best  results.  Sandy  and  gravelly  lands  will  admit  of 


PLANTING   OR  SOWING   WHEAT.  27 

deeper  planting  than  heavier,  clayey  lands ;  but  the  light, 
friable  soils  of  the  Western  prairies  probably  require  tho 
deepest  covering  of  any  in  which  wheat  is  grown,  as  that 
soil  is  more  liable  to  be  blown  about  by  the  winds,  and 
there  is  generally  less  snow  in  winter  to  protect  the  crops 
from  extremes.  Then,  in  autumn,  when  the  soil  for 
some  inches  below  the  surface  is  warmer  than  in  the 
spring,  it  will  do  to  plant  deeper  than  in  the  latter  season. 
A  writer  in  the  "New  England  Farmer"  recommends 
a  depth  of  not  less  than  half  an  inch  nor  more  than  one 
inch.  The  "Michigan  Farmer"  favors  a  quarter  to  half 
an  inch  as  giving  the  best  results  in  most  cases. 

GERMINATION  OF  SEEDS. 

Air,  moisture,  and  warmth  are  all  necessary  to  cause 
seeds  to  germinate  and  send  up  plants ;  they  will 
"come  up"  sooner  in  warm  than  in  cold  soils  ;  in  those 
that  are  moist  than  in  very  dry ;  in  loose,  porous,  than 
in  stiff,  hard  soils.  Experiments  have  shown  that  wheat 
planted  at  different  depths  came  up  as  follows  :  At  half 
an  inch,  in  ten  days ;  one  inch,  in  twelve  days ;  at  two 
inches,  in  eighteen  days ;  but  in  some  cases  of  favorable 
warm  conditions,  wheat  at  those  depths  has  been  known 
to  come  up  in  six  to  four  days,  not  usually,  however,  so 
soon.  A  temperature  of  soil  and  air  from  fifty  to  sixty 
degrees  is  favorable  for  wheat,  though  it  will  sprout  and 
grow  at  several  degrees  both  below  and  above  that. 

The  "American  Cultivator "  gives  the  following  useful 
tables : 

"Frequent  complaints  are  made  that  seeds  do  not  ger- 
minate, and  dealers  in  them  are  found  fault  with  when, 
very  generally,  the  fault  lies  in  the  improper  manner  in 
which  people  plant  them.  Many  take  no  heed  of  the 
condition  of  the  soil  or  of  the  depth  at  which  the  seed 
should  be  planted.  The  temperature  and  moisture  also 


WHEAT   CULTURE. 


have  a  controlling  influence.     The  temperature  of  germi- 
nation, of  the  following  seeds,  is  : 


Lowest. 
Degrees  F. 

HijTicst. 
Degrees  F. 

Most  rapid. 
Degrees  F. 

"Wheat               

41 

104 

84 

Barley                     .       •  •       .  . 

41 

104 

83 

Pea  

44 

102 

84 

48 

115 

93 

49 

111 

79 

54 

115 

93 

"  Air-dried  seeds  will  imbibe  water  of  absorption  com- 
pletely in  from  forty-eight  to  seventy-two  hours,  in  the 
following  percentage : 

Mustard 8  Buckwheat ...  .471  Oats BOIPea 107 

Millet 25  Barley 49  Hemp 60  Clover 118 

Corn 44Turnips 51  Kidney  beans.  96iBeets 121 

Wheat 45'Rye SS'Horse  beans.  .1041  White  clover.,127 

Mr.  S.  N.  Betts,  in  the  "Michigan  Homestead,"  gives 
the  following  interesting  results  of  his  experiments : 

"The  figures  at  the  top  of  the  table  indicate  the  depth 
in  inches  at  which  the  different  samples  were  planted, 
and  the  figures  at  the  left  the  time  at  which  they  came 
up,  respectively.  The  other  figures  are  the  number  of 
kernels  that  germinated  in  each  forty : 


I  'A  I  'A  | 


6    i   7 


February   2 i  6  A.  M. 

February   3 !  9  A.  M. 

February   4 11  A.  M. 

February   5 !  9A.M. 

February   6 10A.M. 

February    7 (11  A.  M. 

February   8 i  9  A.  M. 


February   9. 
February  11 . 


9A.M. 

9  A.  M. 


2 

26 

30 

8 

4 

32 

16 

10 

7 

19 

17 

11 

20 

19 

"It  will  be  seen  that  the  seed  planted  one  inch  in 
depth  gave  the  best  returns.  That  planted  respectively 
at  three-quarters  of  an  inch  and  two  inches  in  depth 
yielded  the  same  number  of  kernels.  Seed  planted  three 
inches  deep  produced  good,  and  that  planted  more  than 
four  inches  very  poor  results. " 


PLANTING   OR   SOWING   WHEAT.  29 

QUANTITY   OF   SEED   TO   THE   ACRE. 

As  in  many  other  farm  matters,  there  is  diversity  of 
opinion  as  to  the  quantity  of  seed  it  is  best  to  sow,  but 
judgment  and  circumstances  must  determine  the  point  in 
different  situations.  Different  preparation  of  both  seed 
and  soil  will  render  more  or  less  seed  necessary  ;  climate 
and  season  have  much  to  do  with  it ;  kind  of  soil  and 
variety  of  wheat,  also,  have  a  bearing  upon  the  question. 
Wheats  which  tiller  largely,  like  Clawson,  Fultz,  Gold 
Medal,  etc.,  need  less  seed  to  the  acre.  Rich,  fertile 
soil  requires  less  than  poor  land.  A  long  season  and 
warm  climate  require  less,  as  affording  better  conditions 
for  spreading  and  growing ;  fine,  deep  pulverization  of 
the  soil,  which  gives  heavier  growth  to  each  plant,  needs 
less  seed,  and  well-cleaned,  sound  grain  requires  less 
seed  than  otherwise.  Then  more  seed  is  required  when 
sown  in  the  spring  than  in  the  fall  on  the  same  land. 
Many  circumstances  enter  into  the  determination  of  the 
question,  so  that  careful  discretion  should  be  exercised 
by  each  grower  for  his  own  special  case.  The  manner 
of  planting,  whether  by  drill  or  broadcast,  and  the  style 
of  drill  used,  make  more  or  less  seed  necessary.  If  seed 
is  well  screened  and  brined,  with  all  light,  foul  seed 
skimmed  off,  of  course  less  will  be  necessary.  From  three 
to  six  pecks,  per  acre,  is  about  right,  as  a  general  rule. 

Broadcast  sowing  is  hardly  safe  with  less  than  six 
pecks  to  the  acre  of  good  seed,  to  secure  full  seeding  to 
all  parts  of  the  ground,  as  some  spots  will  get  too  much, 
and  some  will  not  be  covered.  With  drill  planting  the 
seed  is  more  evenly  distributed,  and  more  completely 
covered,  with  none  too  much  in  any  one  place  ;  hence 
less  is  needed.  Some  styles  of  drills  distribute  the  seed 
better  than  others,  some  of  them  making  four  pecks 
necessary,  while  with  the  others  three  pecks  will  be  suffi- 
cient. If  every  kernel  were  properly  planted,  and  all 


30  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

perfectly  distributed  and  germinated,  even  much  less 
than  the  above  quantity  would  be  needed  to  fully  seed 
the  ground.  Yet,  if  the  planting  be  not  done  in  the 
very  best  manner,  to  secure  the  growth  of  all  the  seed, 
we  would  recommend  too  much  rather  than  too  little — 
say  six  to  eight  pecks  to  the  acre. 

TOOLS  AND  IMPLEMENTS. 

Every  prudent  farmer  will  buy  the  best  and  most  sub- 
stantial implements  and  tools,  and  those  of  the  best  pat- 
tern ;  in  the  long  run  they  are  the  most  economical.^ 
The  greater  despatch  of  work  and  saving  in  labor  will 
more  than  pay  the  extra  price,  in  a  single  season,  of  a 
superior  implement  over  a  poor  one.  Often  the  loss  of 
time  and  damage  to  crop,  from  hindrance  by  breakage 
of  a  flimsy  tool,  more  than  offsets  the  higher  cost  of  a  first 
class  implement.  Furthermore,  the  same  good  farmer 
will  always  take  care  of  and  shelter  his  tools  and  imple- 
ments from  the  weather,  when  not  in  use,  and  not  leave 
them  out  in  the  fields  to  be  storm  beaten. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  WHEAT   CROP.  81 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  WHEAT  CROP. 
COMMERCE  AND  POPULATION. 

As  an  additional  stimulus  to  our  farmers  to  make 
efforts  for  greater  yield  in  the  production  of  wheat,  we 
will  call  their  attention  to  its  great  importance  in  the 
commercial  and  financial  world. 

Wheat  is  now  the  great  sensation  in  commercial  circles 
everywhere,  and  is  the  liveliest  of  all  commodities  in 
general  trade.  Especially  to  the  United  States  is  the 
matter  one  of  great  and  growing  importance,  as  many 
foreign  countries  are  becoming  more  and  more  dependent 
upon  us  for  their  supply  of  breadstuifs  ;  and  it  is  alike 
our  duty  and  interest  to  supply  them  as  fully  as  possible, 
and  as  cheaply  as  can  be,  consistent  with  fair  returns  for 
our  labor. 

Our  room  and  area  are  almost  unlimited  and  our  facili- 
ties unbounded.  Our  soils  and  localities  are  numerous  and 
diversified,  while  our  climate  embraces  a  wide  and  varied 
range,  and  generally  of  the  most  congenial  character — 
reaching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  the  tropics  to  the 
frozen  zone.  It  seems  emphatically  our  mission  to  feed 
the  Old  World  in  its  decline.  It  has  been  our  grand 
privilege  to  give  the  Old  World,  even  in  our  youth,  an 
example  of  the  best  form  of  human  government  yet 
known  to  them.  And  now,  before  we  are  half  grown,  it 
is  our  privilege,  and  within  our  power,  to  furnish  them 
with  the  very  means  to  sustain  their  natural  lives,  and 
avert  from  them  threatened  starvation. 


32  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

REPORTS   BY   LETTERS. 

Many  results  reported  in  numerous  letters  received  by 
the  author,  for  last  year's  harvest,  show  that  the  maxi- 
mum yield,  in  many  sections  of  many  States,  ranged 
from  thirty,  forty,  fifty,  up  to  sixty-one  bushels  per  acre, 
under  thorough,  judicious  culture ;  and  many  reports, 
gathered  from  other  authentic  sources,  for  several  years 
past,  in  different  States,  show  that  as  high  as  fifty  to 
sixty  bushels  per  acre  have  frequently  been  obtained.  Is 
it  unreasonable,  then,  to  claim  that  the  great  majority  of 
farmers  can  more  than  double  the  average  yield  of  four- 
teen bushels,  and  make  the  average  even  as  high  as 
thirty  bushels  the  acre  ?  For  instance,  take  the  mean 
between  these  maximum  rates  of  forty  to  sixty  bushels, 
which  is  fifty  bushels,  and  we  believe  it  not  a  very  hard 
matter  for  the  majority  of  wheat  growers  to  obtain  that 
figure  of  fifty  bushels  the  acre. 

When  farmers  reflect  that  their  productions  have 
really  become  the  controlling  commodities  in  the  com- 
mercial world,  they  will  understand  that  they  cannot 
become  too  intelligent  in  their  business,  nor  too  well 
informed  in  regard  to  the  markets  and  trade,  where  they 
must  sell  and  buy.  Daniel  Webster  is  reported  to  have 
once  said,  in  a  speech,  "  that  the  time  was  not  far  distant 
when  American  wheat  would  regulate  the  money  and 
exchanges  of  Europe  and  America,"  a  prediction  already 
well-nigh  fulfilment ;  and  a  similar  remark  was  recently 
made  by  an  English  statesman,  that  "  the  breadstuff s  of 
America  would  soon  control  the  exchanges  and  commerce 
of  the  world,"  which  is  being  realized  by  the  farmers  of 
America  already. 

VARIOUS  STATISTICS. 

Different  reports  and  estimates  show  that  the  total 
wheat  product  of  the  United  States,  in  1878,  was  very 
nearly  four  hundred  and  twenty  million  bushels,  on 


IMPORTANCE   OF  THE   WHEAT  CROP.  33 

about  thirty-one  million  acres  of  land,  being  nearly  an 
average  of  fourteen  bushels  per  acre.  This  quantity 
gave  our  people,  for  home  consumption,  two  hundred 
million  bushels,  allowing  five  bushels  per  capita  for  the 
entire  population,  estimated  in  round  numbers  at  forty 
millions,  while  the  people  of  Europe  have  not  more  than 
three  to  four  bushels  a  head  for  all  the  population.  For 
seed,  it  likewise  allowed  us  sixty  million  bushels  for 
thirty- two  million  acres  the  succeeding  season,  which  is 
the  average,  probably,  sown  that  year,  and  then  left  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  million  bushels  surplus  for  ex- 
portation, which  is  the  quantity  shown  by  various  statis- 
tics to  have  been  exported  by  the  time  the  crop  of  1879 
was  ready  to  go  forward ;  and  for  the  crop  of  the  latter 
year  we  have  even  larger  figures.  The  acreage  harvested 
in  1879  was  about  thirty-two  million  acres,  and  the  en- 
tire product  was  not  far  from  four  hundred  and  forty 
million  bushels,  showing  a  trifle  less  than  an  average  of 
fourteen  bushels  per  acre  for  the  whole  area  sown,  which 
is  an  absurdly  small  yield  for  a  new  country  and  lands, 
such  as  ours,  and  which  ought  to  be,  and  easily  can  be, 
doubled,  if  the  farmers  will  all  adopt  the  best  known 
methods,  whereby  they  can  likewise  double  their  profits. 
The  Duke  of  Beaufort  has  made  somewhat  detailed 
estimates  of  the  cost  of  the  growing  and  transportation 
of  wheat  in  America,  and  is  very  emphatic  in  his  con- 
clusions, saying:  " As  to  the  expense,  I  have  no  doubt 
but  wheat  can  be  raised  in  the  United  States  and  be 
landed  at  Liverpool,  from  the  average  of  distance  of 
shipping  points  on  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  at  a 
cost  of  four  shillings  per  bushel,  or  thirty-two  shillings 
per  quarter,"  and  then  asks,  "  Can  you  compete  with  this 
price  in  England  ?  I  say,  certainly  not."  The  Duke 
sums  up  his  letter  as  follows :  "  The  result  of  my  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  is  this — that  climate,  steam 
transport  by  land  and  sea,  with  the  labor  question  on 


34  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

both  sides  of  the  ocean,  have  made  it  out  of  the  power 
of  our  agriculturists  to  compete  with  the  growers  of 
wheat  in  America,  and  that  our  farmers  must  turn  their 
attention  to  better  and  cheaper  modes  of  raising  beef 
and  mutton ;  distance,  with  the  difficulty  and  expense  of 
transporting  live  and  dead  meats,  gives  us  an  advantage 
over  them  that  we  will  be  wise  to  improve,  rather  than 
waste  time  and  capital  in  trying  the  impossible  task  of 
competing  with  them  in  growing  wheat,  or  we  shall  be 
driven  out  of  the  meat  market  also  by  the  Americans." 

From  the  "English  Agricultural  Gazette"  we  copy 
the  following  sensible  remarks  :  "  It  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  the  acreage  of  wheat  sown  here,  for  1880,  will 
be  considerably  less  than  for  many  years;  farmers  are 
disheartened  as  to  wheat  culture  here ;  they  have  lost 
confidence  in  their  climate,  soil,  and  market ;  the  ad- 
visability of  growing  less  wheat  has  been  advocated  here 
for  some  years  by  many  of  our  agricultural  leaders,  nota- 
bly by  Mr.  Lawes,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  restrict  the 
acreage  of  wheat  in  the  Kingdom." 

EXPORTS  OF  WHEAT  IN  1850,   AND   SINCE. 

In  1850,  the  United  States  exported  wheat  and  flour  (re- 
ducing the  flour  to  its  equivalent  in  bushels)  eight  million 
bushels ;  1860,  about  eighteen  million  bushels ;  1877, 
over  fifty-seven  million  one  hundred  and  fifty-two 
thousand  bushels  ;  1878,  over  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
million  three  hundred  thousand  bushels ;  and  in  1879, 
known  and  estimated  above  one  hundred  and  sixty-one 
million  four  hundred  thousand  bushels ;  and  the  greater 
portion  of  this  vast  export,  every  year,  went  to  Great 
Britain.  In  1878,  that  country  imported  into  her  own 
borders  some  fifty-seven  million  five  hundred  thousand 
cwts.  of  grain,  flour,  and  meal,  of  which  forty-eight  per 
cent,  nearly  half,  were  received  from  the  United  States. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  WHEAT  CROP.  35 

ENGLISH  WHEAT-GROWING  DECREASING. 

Another  fact  is  auspicious  to  the  prospects  of  the 
American  farmer,  which  is — that  the  number  of  persons 
engaged  in  grain-growing  in  Great  Britain  is  on  the  de- 
crease. By  reference  to  reports  in  English  journals,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  persons  there  engaged  in 
wheat-growing  in  1861  was  one  million  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-three  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  ; 
but  in  1871  the  number  was  decreased  to  one  million  six 
hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two,  a  reduction  of  nearly  twelve  per  cent  in  ten 
years  ;  and  the  decrease,  during  the  past  decade,  is  re- 
ported as  being  still  larger,  though  the  number  engaged 
in  grazing  has  remained  as  usual. 

It  is  also  reported  that  the  number  of  acres  sown  to 
grain,  especially  to  wheat,  is  steadily  becoming  less,  for 
the  past  ten  years. 

Great  Britain  will,  undoubtedly,  for  a  long  time,  be  the 
largest  purchaser  of  our  farm  products,  especially  of 
wheat,  while  some  other  countries  of  Europe  and  of 
South  America  will  often  need  portions  of  our  grains,  but 
they  will  want  it  mostly  as  flour,  which  is  really  the  true 
form  in  which  we  should  sell  all  of  our  surplus  wheat. 

From  numerous  reports  and  other  sources,  in  foreign 
journals,  we  learn  that  the  average  yield,  per  acre,  in 
France  and  Germany,  until  the  last  few  years,  was 
twenty-eight  to  thirty-two  bushels  ;  and  in  England  and 
AVales,  from  thirty  to  thirty-four  bushels,  until  the  late 
disastrous  crops ;  but  that  was  the  average  yield,  for 
many  generations,  even  on  their  old  lands,  which  had 
been  cropped  for  ages. 


36  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

FLOUR  THE  FORM  IN  WHICH  TO  SELL  WHEAT. 
MILLING  EMPLOYS  MANY  PERSONS. 

For  several  important  reasons,  all  of  our  surplus  wheat 
should  be  sold  or  exported  in  the  shape  of  flour. 

FIRST — It  will  afford  useful  employment  to  a  large 
number  of  mechanics  and  others  laborers  here  at  home, 
such  as  builders  and  operators  of  mills,  coopers,  and 
others,  in  making  barrels  or  other  packages — in  packing 
and  putting  up  the  packages,  handling  and  hauling,  be- 
sides other  incidental  labor,  not  required  in  selling  and 
shipping  whole  wheat.  The  business  and  profits  of  feed- 
ing, clothing,  housing,  and  otherwise  maintaining  all  of 
these  various  operatives,  inside  and  outside  of  the  flour- 
ing mills,  are  likewise  very  considerable. 

THE  VALUE  OF  BRAN  AND  SHORTS. 

SECOND — It  will  retain  here  at  home  the  bran,  shorts, 
and  other  refuse,  always  produced  in  milling,  whence  it 
can  and  always  should  go  back  to  the  farms  and  land 
where  wheat  is  produced,  as  fertilizers  to  the  soil, 
through  feeding  stock,  to  aid  in  preventing  exhaustion 
or  "running  down"  of  the  soil.  It  is  well  known,  and 
is  shown  by  various  analyses,  that  the  bran  and  straw 
contain  nearly  all  of  the  mineral  or  inorganic  matter 
which  the  wheat  crop  has  derived  from  the  soil.  Conse- 
quently those  portions  of  the  wheat  plant  do  most  towards 
impoverishing  the  land  and  rendering  it  less  capable  of 
producing  a  heavy  crop  of  sound  grain  ;  hence  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  bran  and  straw  should  go  back  to  the 
laud. 


FLOUR  THE  FORM   IN  WHICH  TO   SELL  WHEAT.        37 


THE  PROFITS  OF  MILLING. 

THIRD — The  large  profits  of  milling  and  making  and 
packing  flour,  by  which  many  large  fortunes  are  acquired, 
will  be  retained  and  accumulated  at  home,  affording  at- 
tractive investments  for  a  large  amount  of  capital.  Of  the 
one  hundred  and  forty  million  bushels  surplus  of  1878, 
perhaps  as  much  as  eighty  million  to  one  hundred  million 
bushels  were  exported  in  the  shape  of  whole  wheat ; 
that  would  make  about  twenty-five  million  barrels  of 
flour,  and  at  a  casual  guess  it  is  safe  to  say  that,  includ- 
ing bran  and  shorts,  the  profits  on  milling  that  quantity 
of  wheat  would  be  one  dollar  per  barrel,  which  would 
make  the  snug  sum  of  twenty-five  million  dollars  saved 
at  liome  by  grinding  all  of  it  into  flour  before  exporting  ; 
no  matter  whether  the  figures  are  precisely  correct  or 
not,  they  illustrate  the  proposition  and  point  the  argu- 
ment all  the  same. 

INCIDENTAL  BENEFITS. 

FOURTH — Considerable  saving  in  freights  and  insur- 
ance would  be  made,  and  less  trouble  in  handling,  as  a 
mass  of  wheat,  when  reduced  to  the  shape  of  well-packed 
flour,  occupies  less  room,  is  liable  to  less  risk,  and  can 
be  more  pleasantly  handled  than  its  equivalent  as  whole 
wheat.  For  instance,  twenty-five  million  barrels  of  flour 
will  not  cost  as  much  freight  and  insurance  for  transport 
from  Chicago  to  New  York,  or  from  Baltimore  to  Liver- 
pool, as  would  the  quantity  of  wheat,  one  hundred  mil- 
lion bushels,  required  to  make  it  ;  consequently,  the 
difference  would  be  so  much  saving  to  be  added  to  the 
profits  at  the  point  of  shipping  or  milling.  For  these 
and  other  reasons,  as  much  as  possible  of  wheat  should 
be  made  into  flour  before  exporting,  or  even  before  being 
sent  from  the  county  where  grown. 


38  WHEAT  CULTUEE. 

FIFTH — Where  large  flouring  and  coopering  operations 
are  carried  on,  many  laborers  of  different  classes  are  em- 
ployed. They,  in  turn,  aid  the  prosperity  of  the  gar- 
deners, orchardists,  and  small  farmers,  by  consuming 
and  making  market  for  their  vegetables,  milk,  fruits, 
and  poultry  products,  to  a  considerable  extent,  upon 
which,  generally,  better  profits  are  realized  than  on  their 
wheat.  Hence  the  agricultural  classes  should  do  what 
they  can  toward  the  building  of  mills  in  their  neighbor- 
hoods, which  will  flour  all  of  their  surplus  wheat  before 
it  leaves  the  vicinity  where  it  is  raised ;  and  then  the 
farmers  should  seek  to  get  back  to  their  own  premises  as 
much  of  the  bran  and  shorts  as  they  well  can,  to  feed 
the  stock  and  soil. 

THE  STBAW  NOT  TO   BE  SOLD. 

It  is  certainly  bad  policy  to  sell  the  straw  off  of  the 
farm,  as  it  largely  contains  the  soluble  silica  of  the  soil, 
which  is  so  essential  to  make  a  vigorous,  healthy  crop  of 
wheat.  There  are  of  late  so  many  ways  for  using  up  straw> 
in  making  coarse  paper  and  other  fabrics,  in  towns  and 
cities,  which  give  it  a  merchantable  price  that  offers 
tempting  inducements  for  farmers  to  haul  it  to  town  for 
sale,  in  many  districts,  to  the  injury  of  their  lands,  by 
robbing  them  of  their  silica,  without  an  adequate  return. 
This  in  the  long  run  will  prove  ruinous,  unless  an  equiv- 
alent of  useful  manure  of  some  kind  is  carried  back  and 
supplied  to  the  soil.  Nothing  is  really  an  equal  substitute 
for  straw  except  good  stable  manure,  swamp  muck,  and 
leaf  mould. 


VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.     39 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  varieties  that  have  succeeded 
in  most  of  the  States,  and  proved  to  be  superior  in  some 
desirable  quality — cither  for  earliness,  hardiness,  prolific 
yield,  freedom  from  disease,  or  some  other  good  charac- 
teristic, or  for  adaptability  to  certain  localities  : 

Early  May,  Bald  Mediterranean,  Canada  Flint,  Velvet, 
Genesee  Flint,  Hutchinson,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  New 
York  Flint,  Bearded  Mediterranean,  Turkish  Flint, 
Harmon's  White  (New  York  Flint),  Blue-stem,  Boone, 
Gander,  Hoover,  Lambert,  Michigan,  Malta,  Orange, 
Perkey,  Golden-chaff,  Quaker,  Shot-berry  or  Starbuck, 
Dayton,  Carolina,  Golden-straw,  Virginia,  Reed-straw, 
Boughton  or  Tappahannock,  Tennessee,  Bald  Genesee, 
and  Zimmerman.  The  Early  May,  known  also  as  Ala- 
bama, Early  Ripe,  June,  and  Watkins,  has  been  cut  as 
early  as  May  twenty-sixth,  in  Ohio,  yielded  well,  and 
weighed  sixty-five  pounds  to  the  bushel.  Mr.  Klippart 
reports  that  the  Orange  has  been  known  to  yield  seventy 
bushels  to  the  acre,  and  eighty  kernels  in  a  single  head ; 
and  that  the  Early  May,  Genesee  Flint,  and  Harmon's 
White,  frequently  weighed  sixty-four  to  sixty-six  pounds 
the  bushel. 

Among  later  varieties,  which  are  gaining  popularity  as 
prolific  yielders,  are  the  Keystone,  Amber,  Red  Mediter- 
ranean, and  Yellow  Missouri  (winter),  and  Champlain, 
Defiance,  Russian  White,  and  Touce  (spring) ;  the  heads 
of  some  of  them  are  said  to  be  eight  inches  long,  with 
seventy  to  eighty  kernels  in  them. 

VARIETIES  PREFERRED  IN  DIFFERENT  STATES. 

In  Colorado,  spring  wheats  mostly  prevail,  the  White 
Australian  proving  very  prolific.  In  Connecticut,  Red 


40  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

"Winter,  and  Gold  Medal,  with  the  Sherman  as  a  spring 
wheat,  have  given  good  results.  Delaware  produces  the 
Virginia  White  and  Fultz,  and  most  other  varieties  of 
winter  wheats  that  succeed  in  Maryland.  Illinois  and 
Iowa  grow  most  of  the  winter  and  spring  sorts  that  suc- 
ceed in  Wisconsin  and  other  States  generally,  including 
Fultz  and  Club.  In  Maryland,  the  Boughton,  Blue- 
stem,  Clawson,  Fultz,  Gold  Dust,  Gold  Medal,  Jennings, 
Lancaster,  Mediterranean,  and  New  York  Flints,  are 
popular.  In  Michigan  both  spring  and  winter  varieties 
are  grown  extensively;  of  the  latter,  Clawson,  Deihl, 
Early  May,  Gold  Medal,  Genesee  Flint,  Lancaster, 
Mediterranean,  and  Victor  seem  to  be  most  popular  ;  of 
the  former,  Arnautka,  Canada  Club,  Champlain,  De- 
fiance, Fife,  Milwaukee,  and  Touzelle  are  preferred. 
Minnesota  grows  largely  of  Arnautka,  Fife*  Odessa,  and 
Club  spring  wheats  and  some  winter  sorts.  Kansas 
grows  spring  and  some  winter  wheats. 

EXPERIMENTS  AT  THE  MISSOURI  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE. 

In  Missouri  all  the  popular  sorts  succeed,  particularly 
Clawson  and  Sandford.  Prof.  G.  C.  Swallow,  Dean  of  the 
Agricultural  College,  writing  in  regard  to  some  interest- 
ing experiments  made  with  wheat  on  the  farm  of  that 
Institution,  in  1877-78,  reports  that  of  sixty-one  va- 
rieties of  winter  wheat  experimented  with,  twelve  were 
winter-killed  and  one  was  destroyed  by  rust.  Of  the 
remaining  forty-eight  kinds,  all  planted  September 
twenty-ninth,  1877,  forty-three  were  harvested  in  June, 
and  five  in  July  ;  eight  kinds  grew  to  a  hight  of  six  feet ; 
six  kinds  weighed  the  standard  of  sixty  pounds,  or  over ; 
five  reached  thirty  bushels,  or  over,  per  acre ;  two,  less 
than  one  hundred  pounds  of  straw  per  bushel,  namely  : 
Clawson,  giving  on  an  acre  two  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-six  pounds  of  straw  to  twenty-eight  bushels  of 
grain ;  and  the  Sandford,  giving  on  an  acre  one  thousand 


VAKIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.      41 

two  hundred  and  fifty-two  pounds  of  straw  and  eighteen 
and  three-quarters  bushels  of  grain. 

The  Missouri  Agricultural  College  reports  Red  May 
winter  wheat,  the  earliest  ripening  variety,  raised  on 
their  experimental  farm  ;  sowed  September  twenty-ninth, 
it  was  ripe  on  June  eighth ;  is  a  smooth,  or  beardless 
wheat ;  gives  about  twenty-eight  bushels  the  acre,  weigh- 
ing fifty-nine  pounds. 

The  heaviest  wheat  which  they  raised  was  the  Mediter- 
ranean, sixty-one  pounds,  and  twenty-two  bushels  the 
acre — red  grain  and  bearded  heads.  The  largest  yield  of 
any  was  from  Kogers'  White,  thirty-eight  and  three- 
quarters  bushels  per  acre,  very  plump,  weighing  fifty-nine 
pounds. 

EXPERIMENTS  IN   MASSACHUSETTS. 

In  Massachusetts,  as  reported,  some  years  ago,  by  J. 
II.  Klippart,  from  "  Philosophic  Transactions,"  it  is 
stated  that  "0.  Miller,  of  Cambridge,  on  June  second, 
planted  a  few  grains  of  red  wheat ;  one  plant  tillered  out 
so  much  by  August  eighth  that  he  was  enabled  to  divide 
it  into  eighteen  parts,  all  of  which  he  planted  separately 
in  pots  of  earth.  Then,  in  September  and  October,  so 
many  of  these  had  multiplied  their  stalks  that  the  num- 
ber of  plants  was  sixty-seven,  which  were  divided  and 
again  set  out  separately.  With  the  first  growth  of  spring 
the  tillering  still  went  on,  so  that  at  the  beginning  of 
April  a  further  division  was  made,  and  the  number  of 
plants  was  five  hundred.  These  all  proved  to  be  ex- 
tremely vigorous,  more  so  than  wheat  plants  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  so  that  the  whole  number  of 
heads  of  wheat  gathered  from  the  original  plant,  by  this 
process  of  division,  was  twenty-one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  nine.  In  a  few  instances  thero  were  one  hundred 
heads  on  a  single  plant,  very  fine  and  long,  some  being 
seven  inches  in  length  and  containing  seventy  grains 


42  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

each.  The  grain,  when  all  separated  from  the  straw, 
weighed  forty-seven  pounds  and  seven  ounces,  measuring 
three  pecks  and  six  quarts,  estimated  number  of  grains 
being  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty,  and  all  from  one  grain  in  one  harvest." 

Mr.  Killibrew  remarks  : — * '  Of  course,  such  an  enor- 
mous increase  is  not  practicable  on  a  large  scale.  Yet  the 
experiment  is  useful  as  showing  the  vast  power  of  in- 
crease possessed  by  this  most  valuable  grain,  under  skill- 
ful, intelligent  management,  and  is  an  encouragement 
to  our  farmers  to  put  forth  their  best  efforts." 

VARIETIES  GROWN  IK  NEW  YORK. 

Probably,  in  New  York,  a  greater  number  of  varieties 
of  wheat  are  grown  than  in  any  other  one  State,  possibly 
equalled  by  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  where  pretty  much 
the  same  varieties  are  the  general  favorites.  So  far  as  we 
have  been  able  to  learn,  Boughton,  Clawson,  Delhi,  Gen- 
esee  Flint,  Fultz,  Wicks,  Gold  Dust,  and  Harmon's 
White,  are  most  popular,  with  Gold  Medal,  Jennings' 
White,  Mediterranean,  and  Early  May,  with  some  others, 
are  nearly  as  much  so,  all  giving  satisfactory  results  in 
various  localities.  New  York  has  long  been  distinguished 
for  its  fine  wheat  and  excellent  flour ;  the  old,  long  time 
ago  popular  "  Genesee  White  Flint,"  known  the  world 
over  for  the  superior  flour  made  from  it,  was  of  Spanish 
origin,  and  has  a  wide  progeny  through  the  whole  coun- 
try— the  Boughton,  Tappahannock,  Blue-stem,  Harmon's 
White,  and  many  others,  having  originated  from  it. 

Hon.  L.  L.  Polk,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  for 
North  Carolina,  reports  that  the  Fultz  does  well  in  that 
State  ;  others  report  the  Clawson  as  popular. 

VARIETIES  AND   EXPERIMENTS  IN  OHIO. 

For  Ohio,  Prof.  C.  E.  Thome  reports,  in  the  "Farm 
and  Friend,"  that  "the  wheat  harvest  commenced  on  the 


VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN"  THE  UNITED  STATES.      43 

twenty-fifth  of  June  with  the  Velvet-chaff  variety,  a 
hard,  amber  wheat,  and  is  valued  for  its  freedom  from 
disease,  stiffness  of  straw,  earliness,  and  good  flour. 
Fultz  ripened  about  the  same  time,  possessing  good 
qualities,  with  rather  softer  grain.  Golden  Straw  was 
cut  on  the  twenty-seventh.  It  is  a  white,  plump  wheat, 
originated  in  Tennessee,  has  short,  stiff  straw,  but  has 
not  proved  a  very  heavy  cropper.  June  thirtieth  Claw- 
son  was  cut,  and  has  sustained  its  high  reputation  for 
freedom  from  disease,  weight  of  crop,  and  good  straw. 
Next  Gold  Medal  was  cut,  a  soft,  white  grain,  short, 
stiff,  clean  straw,  and  heavy  cropper,  but  shells  easily. 
About  the  same  time  the  Silver-chaff  was  ripened,  a 
Canada  wheat,  is  a  tall  grower,  with  stiff  straw,  not  very 
liable  to  lodge  on  any  soil,  appears  free  from  disease, 
does  not  shell  easily,  is  white  as  the  Clawson  and  flinty 
as  the  Mediterranean.  Though  not  accurately  measured, 
the  yield  was  about  as  follows :  Velvet-chaff,  thirty- 
six  bushels  per  acre ;  Fultz,  twenty-six ;  Golden  Straw, 
twenty-seven ;  Clawson,  thirty-four ;  Gold  Medal,  thirty- 
six,  and  Silver-chaff,  thirty-five." 

In  the  palmy  days  of  the  Genesee  Flint,  the  splendid 
varieties  of  Clawson,  Fultz,  Gold  Dust,  Gold  Medal,  and 
Jennings'  White,  seem  not  to  have  been  known,  at  least, 
are  not  mentioned  by  Mr.  Klippart  in  his  work,  though 
they  are  now,  perhaps,  the  five  most  popular  varieties  of 
winter  wheat  grown  in  our  country.  He  names  Canada 
Flint,  Genesee  Flint,  Hutchinson,  English,  Blue-stem, 
Lambert,  Orange,  and  Early  May,  as  among  the  most 
popular  white  wheats  in  1860. 

EXPERIMENTS  IN   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Reports  from  the  "Experimental  Farm"  of  the  Agri- 
cultural College  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  Prof.  James 
Calder  is  President,  show  the  Clawson,  Gold  Medal,  Gold 
Dust,  Fultz,  and  Lancaster,  to  be  the  most  desirable 


44  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

varieties,  among  many,  grown  on  their  place,  and  per- 
haps throughout  the  State.  The  proportion  of  grain  to 
straw  is  an  important  consideration  in  determining  the 
value  of  any  variety  of  wheat.  We  here  give  some  im- 
portant reports  on  the  subject  from  the  Pennsylvania 
Agricultural  College  and  "Experimental  Farm."  Their 
experiments  in  1878  included  above  twenty  varieties,  but 
I  here  give  the  results  of  the  four  most  important  varie- 
ties, viz.  :  Clawson,  Fultz,  Gold  Dust  and  Gold  Medal. 
They  were  all  sown  on  Spetember  twenty-eighth,  1877, 
and  all  harvested  June  twenty-eighth,  1878,  with  the 
same  care  and  accuracy. 

Fultz  and  Gold  Medal,  light  amber  and  beardless, 
yielded,  of  grain  and  straw,  per  acre,  as  follows : 
Fultz — grain,  thirty-two  and  eight  one-hundreths  bush- 
els ;  straw,  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  pounds.  Gold  Medal — grain,  thirty-one  and  fifty- 
four  one-hundredths  bushels ;  straw,  two  thousand  five 
hundred  and  fifty-two  pounds,  a  remarkable  nearness 
of  yield,  in  both  grain  and  straw,  by  these  sorts. 

Clawson  and  Gold  Dust,  beardless,  whiter  than  above 
kinds,  sown  and  harvested  the  same  date  as  above,  gave  the 
following  results :  Clawson — grain,  thirty-two  bushels  ; 
straw,  three  thousand  and  seventy-two  pounds.  Gold 
Dust — grain,  thirty-one  and  twenty-four  one-hundreths 
bushels;  straw,  three  thousand  and  forty-two  pounds;  very 
nearly  the  same  yields  of  straw  and  grain,  by  each,  re- 
spectively and  proportionally ;  but  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  Fultz  and  Gold  Medal  gave  slightly  larger  proportion 
of  grain  to  straw  than  the  Clawson  and  Gold  Dust ;  all 
of  the  other  kinds  (of  the  twenty  tried)  gave  considera- 
bly more  straw,  compared  to  quantity  of  grain,  than 
these  four  thus  particularly  mentioned. 

The  ground  on  which  all  of  these  were  sown  was  a 
clayey,  sandy  loam  wheat  stubble,  plowed  soon  after  har- 
vest, then  liberally  manured.  The  wheat  was  put  in 


VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.       45 

with  the  drill  after  the  land  was  thoroughly  rolled  and 
all  lumps  crushed  and  powdered. 

Genesee  Flint,  Boughton,  Mediterranean,  Silver- 
chaff,  Blue-stem,  Jennings'  White,  Victor,  and  Wicks, 
are  some  of  the  varieties  which  give  large  proportion  of 
grain  to  straw,  while  Sandford,  Eureka,  "  Bill  Dallas," 
Walker,  and  Deihl,  give  greater  proportion  of  straw  to 
grain  than  those  named  above. 

Farmers  desiring  a  wheat  which  will  produce  the  best 
proportion  of  grain  to  straw,  will  find  a  lesson  and  a 
guide  in  this  statement. 

VARIETIES  IK  TENNESSEE  AND  VIRGINIA. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Killebrew,  in  his  instructive  work  on 
Wheats  in  Tennessee,  mentions,  as  succeeding  generally  in 
that  State,  the  Amber,  Boughton,  Clawson,  Deihl,  Early 
May,  Fultz,  Genesee  Flint,  Golden-straw,  Lancaster, 
Mediterranean,  Quaker,  Walker,  and  some  others ;  and 
he  remarks,  specially,  that  "before  the  introduction  of 
Boughton,  Clawson,  Fultz,  and  Mediterranean,  with 
some  others,  fifteen  to  twenty  bushels  the  acre  was  con- 
sidered an  extra  yield,  but  since  then  twenty-five  to 
thirty-five  bushels  the  acre  are  not  uncommon  on  prop- 
erly tilled  lands." 

Hon.  Thomas  Pollard,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
for  Virginia,  in  his  excellent  Report,  1879,  shows  that 
the  varieties  most  grown  and  popular  in  that  State  are, 
about  in  the  order  named,  the  following :  Fultz,  Lan- 
caster, Scott,  Amber,  Blue-stem,  Clawson,  Canada, 
Golden-straw,  Mediterranean,  and  Genesee  Flint ;  and 
others,  popular  in  localities,  as  the  Jennings'  White, 
Michigan,  Kentucky,  Missouri  Yellow,  New  York  Flint, 
Quaker,  Ruffin,  Weeks,  and  Zimmerman. 

Prof.  J.  R.  Page,  of  the  Virginia  University  Experi- 
mental Farm,  in  1878,  reports  experiments  with  "  Eureka  " 
and  "Fultz  "  wheats,  planted  with  drill,  one-half  acre  each, 


46  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

on  November  second,  and  harvested  on  Juno  eleventh 
and  fifteenth.  Fultz,  first  cut,  gave  nine  bushels  the 
half  acre,  and  eight  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  of  straw, 
grain  weighing  sixty  pounds  the  bushel.  Eureka  gave 
eight  and  one-half  bushels  the  half  acre  of  grain,  and 
one  thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  pounds  of 
straw ;  the  grain  weighed  sixty-two  pounds  the  bushel ; 
the  land  was  a  gray,  micaceous,  sandy  loam.  He  further 
experimented  on  six  lots  of  land,  of  an  acre  each — poor; 
micaceous,  siliceous  soil,  with  many  white  flint  rocks 
scattered  over  it.  The  land  was  all  plowed  and  fallowed 
from  the  tenth  to  the  eighteenth  of  September,  1877, 
harrowed,  and  wheat  sowed — the  Fultz  by  drill — October 
fifteenth  ;  in  the  following  March,  was  harrowed  and  sowed 
with  clover  seed.  The  wheat  was  harvested  June  tenth 
and  eleventh.  Lot  one  was  manured  with  two  hundred 
pounds  ground  bone,  one  hundred  pounds  nitrate  of 
soda,  one  hundred  pounds  muriate  of  potash,  in  all, 
value  nine  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents.  Yield  of  grain 
was  eighteen  and  one-half  bushels,  weighing  sixty-one 
and  one-half  pounds  per  bushel ;  straw,  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds,  and  chaff, 
two  hundred  and  seventy-nine  pounds.  Same  lot,  suc- 
ceeding year,  without  fertilizers,  produced  two  and  one- 
half  bushels  grain,  weighing  sixty  and  one-half  pounds 
per  bushel,  four  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  straw,  and 
thirty-three  pounds  chaff.  Quantity  of  seed  sown  was 
five  pecks  per  acre.  The  other  five  lots,  treated  in  simi- 
lar manner  the  same  two  years,  gave  similar  results,  less 
bushels  of  grain  and  of  lighter  weight. 

"  A  seventh  acre-lot  was  manured  with  two  hundred 
pounds  dissolved  bone,  one  hundred  pounds  nitrate  of 
soda,  one  hundred  pounds  potash,  all  mixed  ;  value, 
nine  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents  ;  sowed  by  drill  with 
five  pecks  Fultz  wheat,  October  fifteenth.  Yield  was 
eighteen  bushels  grain,  weighing  sixty-one  pounds  per 


VARIETIES  MOST  GROWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.      47 


Fig.  4.— CHAMPLAIN  WHEAT. 


48 


WHEAT   CULTURE. 


Fig.  5.— DEFIANCE 

WHEAT. 


bushel,  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  forty 
pounds  of  straw,  and 
two  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  pounds  chaff." 

In  "Wisconsin,  as  in 
most  of  the  prairie 
States,  spring  varieties 
are  suited  to  large  por- 
tions of  the  State.  In 
spring  wheats,  Arnaut- 
ka,  Club,  Odessa,  Fife, 
and  Eussian  White,  are 
most  popular ;  in  the 
winter  wheats,  Clawson, 
Genesee  Flint,  Gold 
Dust,  Fultz,  Jennings, 
Lancaster,  Mediterrane- 
an, and  Eed,  are  the 
popular  varieties. 

THEEE  NEW  VARIETIES* 

Recently  two  new  va- 
rieties of  Spring  Wheat 
have  been  produced  in 
Vermont.  They  are  re- 
ported as  giving  large 
yields,  and  being  valua- 
ble, and  are  represented 
in  the  engravings  figs. 
4  and  5  on  the  previous 
and  this  page.  The 
"Champlam"  is  a  beard- 
ed, red-kernel  wheat ; 
the  other,  "Defiance," 
is  a  white,  bald  wheat, 


Fig.  6.— RUSSIAN 

SPRING  WHEAT. 


VARIETIES  MOST  GROWI^  IN"  TIIE  UNITED  STATES.       49 

and  is  generally  preferred  on  account  cf  its  lighter  color, 
and  being  beardless. 

We  also  give  an  engraving  (fig.  6)  of  a  new  Spring 
Wheat,  called  the  "  White  Kussian  "  (somewhat  like  the 
Defiance),  which,  it  is  claimed,  is  a  great  cropper,  and 
very  valuable. 

SOME   ENGLISH   PEDIGREE   WHEATS. 

Mr.  T.  E.  Pawlett,  an  English  farmer,  reports  in 
detail  some  interesting  experiments.  He  says :  "  Oc- 
tober twenty-fifth,  1861,  I  drilled  in  the  following  seven 
sorts  of  wheat,  in  drills  eight  inches  apart,  covering 
about  one  and  one-half  inch,  six  pecks  the  acre,  on  clover- 
sod  plowed-under,  after  being  fed  a  short  time  by  sheep, 
and  obtained  results  as  follows  : 

1— Hallett's  Pedigree,  red 36'/2  bushels  per  acre. 

2— Giant,  red 88'/4  "  " 

3— Tibbald's  Wonder,  red 43V4  "  " 

4— Corner's,  white 423/4  "  " 

5— Glory  of  the  West,  white 37ya  "  " 

6— Grace's,  white 44  "  " 

7— Russian,  white 4iya  "  " 

October  twenty-sixth,  same  year,  he  made  another  ex- 
periment, on  another  field,  with  six  varieties,  on  gravel 
land,  after  clover  plowed-under,  and  same  quantity  of 
seed  dnlled-m,  same  distance  and  depth  as  in  the  above 
experiment,  with  the  following  results  : 

1— Tibbald's  Wonder,  red  48y2  bushels  per  acre. 

2— Giant,  red 88'/4      "  " 

3— Browick,  red 44y4      "  " 

4— Russian,  white 33ya      "  " 

5— Corner's,  white , 45«/»      u  " 

6-Talavera,  white 36Va      "  " 

He  remarks  that,  from  these  experiments,  it  appears 
that  Corner's  and  Grace's  are  the  best  yielders  of  the 
white  wheat,  and  that  the  Giant  and  Tibbald's  are  the 
best  yielders  of  the  dark  wheats,  on  his  land,  while  Tib- 
bald's  gave  the  heaviest  yield  of  all ;  Corner's  is  the  best 
quality  of  gram. 
3 


50  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

GREEN    MANURING    AND    PLOWING. 
PLOWItfG-IH   GREEtf   CROPS. 

It  is,  probably,  safe  to  say  that  no  other  mode  of  fer- 
tilizing land — either  to  preserve  or  restore  productive- 
ness— is  so  effective  and  cheap  as  plo wing-in  green 
crops,  such  as  clover,  lucern,  peas,  buckwheat,  and 
some  others,  treated  with  liberal  top-dressings  of  lime  or 
ashes  just  before  plowing,  and  with  plaster  while  grow- 
ing. This  practice  not  only  supplies  the  soil  with  veg- 
etable matter,  but  it  tends  to  make  it  friable  and  porous, 
so  that  the  air  can  permeate  freely,  and  allows  the  roots 
of  the  plants  to  run  and  spread  freely  for  their  needed 
nourishment. 

It  lightens  up,  leavens  the  land,  as  it  were,  doing 
much  to  prevent  the  evil  effects  of  drouth  by  creating 
and  preserving  a  degree  of  moisture  in  the  soil  during  a 
dry  time.  Lucern,  or  Alfalfa,  as  it  is  called  in  some 
sections,  is  even  better  than  clover  in  the  estimation  of 
those  farmers  who  have  used  it,  as  it  runs  its  roots  deeper 
than  clover.  The  roots  are  also  larger,  and  tend  to  sub- 
soil culture,  and  when  cut  off  eight  to  ten  inches  deep  in 
the  soil  by  the  plow,  they  leave  it  moist  and  porous  to 
that  depth  while  decaying,  and  make  a  favorite  bed  for 
the  roots  of  the  wheat  plant. 

PLOWING   PRAIRIE   LAKD — THE   OLD   WAY. 

At  the  time  of  our  first  becoming  a  settler  in  the 
"Western  States,  the  ordinary  mode  adopted  by  the  pio- 
neers for  "breaking  prairies"  was  with  a  heavy  team — 
four  to  six  yoke  of  oxen — and  a  large  "break-up  plow" 
that  would  turn  a  shallow  furrow,  twenty-four  to  thirty- 


GREEN   MANURING   AND   E^^^WA^X       51 

six  inches  wide,  two  to  three  inches  deep,  and  this  broad, 
thin  ribbon-like  strip  of  prairie  sod  would  be  laid  over 
smooth  and  flat  as  a  strip  of  carpet.  The  aim  was  to  cut 
and  turn  it  as  thin  and  wide  and  flat  as  possible  and  have 
it  hang  together,  and  be  fairly  inverted,  each  succeeding 
furrow  lying  nicely  down  in  the  preceding  one,  so  that 
few  spaces  would  be  left  for  grass  to  grow  up  to  the  sur- 
face, with  a  depth  that  should  be  just  under  the  main 
roots  of  the  grass,  generally  from  two  to  three  inches. 

The  plowing  was  generally  done  in  spring  or  early 
summer,  in  order  that  the  vegetable  matter  might  be- 
come decayed  for  sustaining  the  wheat,  corn,  or  other 
crop  that  might  be  planted  upon  it ;  or  in  the  fall,  if  the 
settler  then  first  entered  upon  the  land,  and  thus  be 
ready  for  an  early  spring  crop,  as  soon  as  the  frost  was 
out  of  the  way.  It  was  always  a  pleasant,  satisfactory 
occupation  to  hold  or  follow  the  huge  breaking-up  plow, 
drawn  steadily  along  by  the  stalwart  team,  as  there  was 
always  such  a  sense  or  feeling  of  conquest,  of  subjugation. 

PLOWING   PRAIRIE   LAND — THE   PRESENT  WAY. 

But  now  these  things  are  somewhat  changed,  and  re- 
cently a  better  and  more  elaborate  mode  has  been 
adopted,  as  thus  described  in  a  communication  to  the 
AMERICAN  AGRICULTURIST,  as  follows  : 

"At  Schuyler,  Nebraska,  West  of  Omaha,  J.  T. 
Clarkson  showed  some  fields  of  prairie  prepared  for 
wheat  which  were  broken  up  by  him  in  the  spring  ;  he 
first  turned  over  the  virgin  sod,  about  three  inches  deep, 
in  the  usual  way ;  then  a  second  plow  followed  in  the 
furrow  and  took  up  about  an  inch  more  of  the  soil  and 
threw  it  over  the  inverted  sod  ;  this,  being  carefully  har- 
rowed, filled  up  the  spaces  between  the  sods  and  fur- 
nished a  fine  soil  seed-bed  for  the  grain." 

"At  Marshall,  Minnesota,  E.  S.  Youmans  treated  a 
part  of  his  land  thus  :  He  broke  it  up  on  May  tenth  ; 


52  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

July  tenth  to  September  fifteenth.  The  disk  harrow  or 
sod-cutter  was  used  and  the  sod  all  cut  finely ;  it  was 
then  'back  set,'  that  is,  the  plow  was  run  under  some- 
what deeper,  and  the  cut  sods  were  buried  under  the 
loose,  turned-up  soil.  On  this  seed-bed  spring  wheat  was 
sown  from  the  sixth  to  the  twentieth  of  April.  Thus 
treated  the  prairie  land  will  yield  five  to  seven  bushels, 
per  acre,  more  than  with  the  usual  single  plowing.  W. 
L.  Nevins  had  six  hundred  acres  of  spring  wheat,  near 
Tracy,  Minnesota,  five  hundred  and  forty  of  which  were 
treated  like  the  above,  and  it  seemed  to  give  a  yield  of 
about  eight  bushels,  per  acre,  more  than  that  with  the 
single  plowing.  He  sowed  the  Fife  wheat,  from  the 
sixth  to  the  sixteenth  of  April,  fifty  quarts  of  seed  to 
the  acre." 

Double  plowing,  cutting  the  sod  finely  and  covering  it 
with  the  rich,  friable  prairie,  making  a  loam-bed  of  the 
whole,  was  certainly  a  paying  operation. 

PLOWING   IN  THE   GULF  STATES. 

With  an  improved  cultivation,  deeper,  finer  plowing 
and  pulverization,  much  more  of  the  lands  of  Florida 
and  Georgia  can  be  made  to  produce  good  yields  of 
wheat.  But  before  the  deep  plowing  is  done  it  is  neces- 
sary to  have  the  land  well  underdrained  to  the  depth  of 
at  least  two  feet,  in  order  to  secure  the  advantages  of  the 
deep  plowing ;  and  the  plowing  should  be  done  with 
good,  heavy  two-horse  or  three-mule  teams,  then  thor- 
oughly harrowed  and  rolled,  to  compeletely  pulverize  the 
land.  This  treatment  will  insure  a  good  crop  of  wheat 
on  all  the  ordinarily  fair  lands  of  the  Gulf  States,  but 
the  single-mule  plowing,  which,  we  are  informed,  gener- 
ally prevails  there,  will  never  secure  uniformly  good 
crops  of  wheat,  there  or  elsewhere.  Land  must  be  well 
drained  and  deeply  tilled  to  produce  wheat. 


RECAPITULATION   OF   OPERATIONS.  53 

CHAPTER    X. 
RECAPITULATION    OF    OPERATIONS. 

We  will  here  sum  up,  in  brief,  the  process  or  requisites 
essential  to  produce  increased  yield  of  wheat  and  contin- 
ued good  crops,  as  follows  : 

FIRST — PERFECT  DRAINAGE,  by  both  under-drains 
and  surface  ditches,  as  shall  be  found  necessary  to  pre- 
yent  stagnant  water  in  the  sub-soil  or  any  standing  water 
on  the  surface,  for  any  length  of  time  after  the  thawing 
of  ice  and  snow,  or  after  heavy  showers. 

SECOND — DEEP  CULTIVATION,  by  sub-soil  plowing  or 
trenching,  at  least  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  deep,  in  order 
that  plant  roots  may  run  deeply  for  sustenance,  and  also 
that  moisture  may  rise  from  below  to  the  surface  in  sea- 
sons of  drouth. 

THIRD — ALKALINE  MATTER.— The  soil  needs  a  lib- 
eral supply  of  ashes,  lime,  or  other  substances  of  alkaline 
properties,  and  also  salt.  A  two-fold  benefit  is  caused 
by  these  ingredients  in  the  soil,  namely — they  aid  largely 
in  dissolving  the  silicia  (or  flint)  and  they  are,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  preventives  to  ravages  of  insects  and  of 
diseases;  especially  the  salt,  which  is  effective,  very 
often,  in  preventing  injury  by  rust.  Any  or  all  of  these 
things  are  beneficial  to  the  wheat  crop,  particularly 
where  there  is  prevailing  liability  to  rust  and  crinkling 
straw. 

FOURTH — CLOVER  AND  PLASTER  ROTATION,  the  fre- 
quent use  of,  and  plowing-under  of  various  green  crops 
as  manures ;  the  plaster  to  be  applied  to  the  clover,  or 
other  crop  to  be  plowed-under,  to  induce  ranker  growth, 
together  with  the  liberal  application  of  lime  to  the  land 
by  being  harrowed  into  the  surface  before  seeding. 


54  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

FIFTH — THE  SEED. — Careful  selection  of  and  brining 
the  seed  in  salt,  and  drying  in  lime  or  plaster. 

SIXTH — HARROWING  AND  ROLLING. — The  land,  just 
before  seeding  with  the  drill,  should  be  thoroughly  har- 
rowed and  rolled,  to  crush  all  lumps  and  completely 
powder  the  soil,  so  that  the  largest  possible  portion  of  it 
will  be  available  to  nourish  the  young  plants.  Another  ob- 
ject is  to  make  a  soft,  mellow  seed-bed  into  which  the  drill 
can  drop  the  wheat,  and  have  fine  earth  to  fall  back  into 
the  drill  furrows  to  cover  the  grain  perfectly  at  even 
depth,  with  no  hard,  coarse  lumps  to  hinder  or  smother 
the  growth  of  the  young  wheat. 

SEVENTH — HOEING  OR  CULTIVATING  the  growing  wheat 
in  fall  and  spring,  often  enough  to  keep  down  weeds  and 
keep  the  soil  mellow  and  moist,  which  will  greatly  in- 
crease healthy  growth,  letting  in  air  and  sunshine  more 
freely,  and  will  also  facilitate  the  applying  of  remedies 
for  diseases,  as  well  as  the  dislodging  of  insects  when 
they  infest  the  crop. 

EIGHTH — EARLY  HARVESTING — Much  will  be  added  to 
quantity,  quality,  and  safety  of  the  crop  by  early  harvest- 
ing, while  the  wheat  is  in  the  soft,  dough  state,  which 
tends  to  prevent  injury  by  rust,  loss  by  shelling  and  bad 
weather ;  enables  the  work  to  be  better  done  by  not 
crowding  so  much  into  a  short  space  of  time,  and  the 
work  is  more  pleasant,  as  the  straw  is  softer  and  tougher  ; 
furthermore,  as  has  been  shown  in  previous  pages,  early 
harvest  makes  heavier  grain,  while  the  same  weight  of 
grain  makes  more  and  better  flour. 

MORE   KNOWLEDGE   NEEDED. 

No  matter  how  much  a  farmer  may  know  or  ave 
learned  by  reading,  or  from  experiments  made  by  his 
neighbors,  he  can  be  further  enlightened  and  benefited 
by  making  experiments  himself  on  questionable  points,  or 


RECAPITULATION  OF  OPERATIONS.  55 

in  regard  to  practices  of  the  utility  of  which  he  is  not 
assured.  He  can  make  the  experiments  at  first  on  a 
small  scale,  if  he  wish,  so  that  the  loss  will  not  be  great 
or  disastrous,  in  case  of  failure. 

More  scientific  and  practical  knowledge  would  enhance 
both  the  pleasure  and  profits  of  agriculture,  were  the 
large  mass  of  farmers  better  informed  in  regard  to  Botany, 
Chemistry,  Geology,  Mineralogy,  and  the  Physiology  of 
Animal  and  Vegetable  Life,  it  would  be  greatly  to  their 
advantage,  by  enabling  them  to  make  their  farm  opera- 
tions both  more  effective  and  productive.  For  this  rea- 
son practical  agriculture  should  be  taught  as  a  regular 
study,  by  competent  teachers,  in  all  of  our  district  and 
academic  schools. 

Large  numbers  of  the  children,  especially  in  the  rural 
schools,  are  to  grow  up  practical  farmers,  and  they 
should  be  armed  and  qualified  as  thoroughly  as  possible, 
with  such  education  and  knowledge  as  will  prove  of  ad- 
vantage to  them  in  their  special  avocation,  and  render 
them  as  useful  and  intelligent  citizens  and  farmers  as 
they  are  capable  of  becoming ;  and  they  should  receive 
the  rudiments  and  first  principles  of  such  education 
when  young  and  in  the  primary  schools. 

Dr.  Blake>  the  distinguished  scientist  and  educator, 
once  said  in  an  address,  that  "  Lecturers,  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  should  be  sent  out  and  maintained  by  the 
Government,  and  the  farmers  should  hear  them  every 
month  on  topics  interesting  to  them  as  cultivators  and 
stock  breeders — lecturers  of  ability  and  learning." 


56  WHEAT   CULTUEE. 


CHAPTER  XL 
EXAMPLES    OF    SUCCESSFUL    WHEAT    CULTURE. 

As  an  encouragement,  especially  to  our  younger  far- 
mers, and  as  a  stimulant  to  all,  to  make  efforts  for  the 
highest  possible  achievements  in  wheat  growing,  we  pre- 
sent many  examples  of  large  yields  per  acre  from  various 
sections  of  our  country  by  different  farmers,  who  have  far 
exceeded  the  common  yield  of  thirteen  to  fifteen  bushels, 
which  has  been  the  average  throughout  the  country  for 
several  years  past.  While  in  Massachusetts,  Michigan, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Oregon,  the  average,  per  acre,  in  1878 
and  1879,  was  about  twenty-two  bushels  ;  in  Illinois,  New 
York,  and  Ohio,  it  was  nineteen  ;  California,  Kansas, 
Indiana,  Texas,  and  Vermont,  seventeen ;  Pennsylvania 
and  New  Jersey,  fifteen ;  in  all  of  the  other  States,  as 
low  as  fourteen  or  under,  and  in  some  of  the  States  as 
low  as  six  to  eight  bushels. 

Now,  we  believe  the  lowest  of  these  named  may  easily 
reach  the  figure  of  the  highest,  and  that  many  of  the 
States  may  attain  an  average  of  thirty  to  forty  bushels  to 
the  acre,  simply  by  fairly  adopting  the  thorough  system 
and  methods  pointed  out  in  these  pages. 

One  farmer,  of  Hudson,  Ohio,  stated  in  the  "  Country 
Gentleman,"  that  he  got  from  a  field  of  sandy-clay  loam 
land,  thirty-two  bushels  of  Clawson  wheat,  and  twenty- 
four  bushels  of  Fultz,  per  acre  ;  that  he  weighed  in  the 
scales  kernels  of  each,  and  found  that  thirty  kernels  of 
the  Clawson  balanced  forty  kernels  of  the  Fultz,  and  that 
he  planted  eight  pecks  of  Clawson  and  seven  pecks  of 
Fultz  to  the  acre.  On  that  portion  of  his  land  which 


EXAMPLES   OF  SUCCESSFUL  WHEAT  CULTURE.         57 

was  not  well  under-drained,  both  varieties  suffered  some- 
what by  winter  killing  ;  otherwise  his  whole  yield  would 
have  been  one-quarter  larger,  while  no  injury  occurred 
from  that  cause  on  the  well-drained  land ;  the  largest 
yield  he  ever  knew  from  the  Fultz  was  forty  bushels  the 
acre,  while  his  best  three  acres  of  Clawson  gave  one 
hundred  and  eighty-one  bushels,  being  sixty  and  one- 
third  bushels  per  acre." 

Mr.  Harroon,  of  Monroe  County,  N.  Y. ,  obtained  from 
eleven  and  three-quarter  acres  of  clover  turned  under, 
four  hundred  and  forty-three  and  one-half  bushels  of 
handsome  Blue-stem  wheat,  being  over  thirty-seven 
bushels  per  acre. 

Ellwanger  &  Barry,  of  Rochester,  K  Y.,  thrashed 
from  eight  acres  an  average  of  fifty  and  a  half  bushels  of 
good  wheat  on  land  thoroughly  drained  and  well  worked, 
which  had  previously  been  a  nursery  and  orchard,  show- 
ing the  advantage  of  having  land  well  drained  and  per- 
fectly pulverized  for  wheat. 

A  correspondent  of  the  old  "  Genesee  Farmer  "  reports 
a  crop  of  Genesee  Flint  wheat  giving  ninety  and  three- 
quarter  bushels  on  one  acre  of  land,  containing,  by  an- 
alysis, only  two  and  forty-three  one-hundredths  per 
cent  of  organic  matter,  but  contained  thirty  per  cent 
(very  large)  of  soluble  silicia,  with  potash,  soda,  and 
other  minerals,  in  larger  proportion  than  is  generally 
found  in  good  lands. 

The  "Michigan  Homestead"  says  that  Dr.  Smith 
stated,  in  an  address  before  the  Saganaw  (Mich.)  Farm- 
ers' Club,  that  David  Geddes,  of  that  county,  obtained 
seventy-three  bushels  of  good  wheat  from  one  acre  of 
land.  James  L.  Rea,  of  Lewis  and  Clark  County,  Mon- 
tana Territory,  produced  one  hundred  and  two  bushels  of 
good  wheat  from  one  acre,  and  he  obtained  the  first  pre- 
mium, at  the  Fair,  for  the  largest  yield  of  wheat  raised 
in  the  Territory. 


68  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

OTHER  EtfOOHRAGIXG   EXAMPLES. 

It  is  stated,  on  what  is  regarded  good  authority,  that 
a  farmer  in  Lake  County,  Colorado,  sowed  one  acre  of 
sandy  land,  May  first,  with  White  Russian  wheat,  and  in 
September  harvested  from  it  one  hundred  hushels  of 
good,  sound  grain.  The  land  was  irrigated  with  water 
from  a  mountain  stream. 

A  farmer  in  Carroll  County,  Illinois,  reports  that  for 
several  consecutive  years  he  obtained  twenty-five  bushels, 
the  acre,  of  Odessa  Spring  wheat,  from  the  same  field ; 
he  also  found  that  the  Odessa  answers  a  good  purpose 
as  a  fall  wheat,  giving  that  yield,  sowed  either  in  fall 
or  spring,  in  that  region. 

Some  time  since  it  was  reported  in  the  "  Ohio  Farmer  " 
that  a  Mr.  Cavin,  of  Indiana,  obtained  an  average  yield 
of  forty-nine  bushels  per  acre  from  eleven  acres ;  also, 
that  Mr.  Richards,  of  Ohio,  obtained  nearly  the  same 
average  yield  from  an  entire  field  of  twenty-seven  acres, 
and  that  Andrew  Smith,  same  State,  obtained  an  average 
of  fifty-four  bushels  the  acre  from  fifteen  acres,  with  the 
Clawson  variety.     Mr.  French,  of  Berkshire,  Massachu- 
setts, obtained,  by  drainage  and  thorough  cultivation,  an 
average  of  fifty-five  bushels  the  acre,  with  the  Clawson 
wheat,  one  acre  of  the  same  field  giving  sixty-five  bush- 
els ;  the  Clawson  is  noted  as  a  remarkable  tiller,  hence 
its  large  yields.     Father  Weikamp,  of  the  Convent  Farm 
in  Emmet  County,  Michigan,  is  reported  to  have  thrashed 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four  and  one-half  bushels  of 
wheat  from  three  and  one-half  acres  of  land,  giving  a 
fraction  over  fifty  bushels  the  acre.     A  Bel  Air  (Md.)  pa- 
per states  that  William  Oldfield,  of  that  county,  in  1878, 
raised  one  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  from  twenty-eight 
acres.    Part  was  sown  with  Fultz  wheat,  giving  forty-five 
bushels  the  acre.    The  balance  was  sown  with  Mediterra- 
nean, which  gave  thirty-five   bushels   the   acre.      One 


EXAMPLES   OF   SUCCESSFUL   WHEAT   CULTUKE.          59 

grower  in  Arkansas  reports  getting  eighty-two  stalks,  in 
one  stool,  from  one  kernel  of  Fultz  wheat. 

YIELD  AND   PRODUCT  FOE  SIXTEEN   YEARS. 

From  statistics  in  the  Agricultural  Reports,  for  the  fif- 
teen years  previous  to  1878,  it  is  learned  that  the  total 
average  area  sown  of  wheat  was  twenty  million  five  hundred 
and  seventy-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-one 
acres  ;  total  average  product,  two  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lion two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven.  In  1863,  thirteen  million  ninety-eight 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-six  acres  were  sown, 
producing  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  million  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-eight bushels  of  wheat,  and  showing  an  average  yield, 
per  acre,  of  a  fraction  above  thirteen  bushels,  for  that 
year.  The  average  yield,  per  acre,  during  sixteen  years, 
including  1878,  was  found  to  be  twelve  and  one-half 
bushels.  In  1878,  the  area  harvested  was  reported  at 
thirty-one  million  acres,  and  the  product  at  about  four 
hundred  and  twenty  million  bushels,  giving  a  fraction  over 
thirteen  bushels  per  acre.  The  average  price,  per  bushel, 
for  sixteen  years,  was  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents  and 
four  mills ;  average  price  from  1871  to  1878,  inclusive, 
was  one  dollar  and  four  cents  ;  the  highest  average  price, 
any  one  year,  during  the  sixteen  years  past,  was  two  dol- 
lars and  six  cents  and  four  mills.  When  the  writer  was 
a  boy,  on  the  Genesee  Flats,  fifty  years  ago,  it  was  a 
common  thing  among  farmers  to  obtain  as  high  as  forty, 
fifty,  and  often  sixty,  bushels  the  acre. 

RESPONSES  TO   MY   CIRCULARS. 

During  the  latter  part  of  last  year  I  sent  out  several 
hundred  circulars  to  reliable  and  practical  parties,  in  most 
of  the  States,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  reports  of  the 
best  achievements  known  in  wheat  growing,  by  the  best 


60  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

and  most  successful  farmers,  asking  answers  to  the  fol- 
lowing questions  : 

QUESTIONS  CONTAINED  IN  THE   CIRCULAR. 

What  is  the  largest  yield  of  wheat,  per  acre,  known  to 
you,  in  your  neighborhood,  on  not  less  than  two  acres  ? 
On  what  kind  of  soil  ?  What  the  plowing  ?  What  the 
variety  of  wheat  ?  What  date,  and  manner  sown  ? 
What  date  harvested  ?  What  the  fertilizers  used  ?  and 
other  useful  information. 

Many  responses  to  my  circulars,  with  the  desired  in- 
formation, have  kindly  been  returned  to  me  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  showing  that  some  growers,  almost 
everywhere,  have  succeeded  in  getting  extra  large  yields, 
ranging  from  thirty  up  to  sixty-one  bushels  to  the  acre, 
on  the  whole  of  large  fields,  and  portions  of  many  of 
those  replies  are  given  in  pages  further  on. 

Chief  among  the  valuable  lessons  which  the  reader 
may  learn  from  these  reports,  is — that  the  larger  yields 
advocated  by  me  in  this  little  work,  are  perfectly  and 
easily  practicable  for  all  farmers  who  possess  the  ambi- 
tion and  energy  to  secure  them. 


EXAMPLES   OF  SUCCESSFUL  WHEAT  CULTUEE. 


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62  WHEAT   CULTUltE. 

CHAPTER    XII. 
EXTRACTS    FROM    LETTERS. 

Agricultural  Commissioner  L.  L.  Polk,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, writes :  "We  have  many  other  as  large  yields  of 
wheat  as  the  one  reported  here  (thirty-one  and  one-half 
bushels),  but  not  on  such  large  areas  of  ground  as  the 
above  ;  deep  plowing  and  fine  pulverization  does  it." 

Mr.  V.  C.  S tiers,  of  Ohio,  says  :  "  Fultz  is  their  best 
variety  of  wheat ;  Dr.  Little  gets  large  yield  by  hauling 
the  dead  animals  and  other  stuff  from  the  town,  and 
then  composting  them  with  the  manure  and  garden 
earth  on  his  farm ;  it  gives  him  very  profitable  returns 
for  the  cost." 

Mr.  D.  Lawrence,  of  Maryland,  says:  "The  land 
was  well  prepared  by  harrowing  and  rolling  before  seed- 
ing with  the  drill ;  the  seed  was  carefully  screened  and 
brined,  to  make  it  perfectly  clean." 

Mr.  J.  H.  Hess,  of  Ohio,  says  :  "  My  yield  of  Ar- 
nold's Gold  Medal,  in  1878,  was  forty-five  bushels  the 
acre  ;  in  1879,  on  similar  soil,  it  is  forty-six  and  one-half 
bushels  the  acre." 

Hon.  Richard  Johnson,  of  Livingston  County,  New 
York,  writes  :  "  When  this  county  was  new,  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  yields  of  wheat  as  high  as  sixty  bushels  the 
acre  were  raised  here  in  some  instances,  and  often  forty 
bushels.  Now,  we  think  twenty  to  twenty-five  bushels 
the  acre  a  good  yield  ;  our  land,  generally,  is  a  gravelly 
loam.  The  reason  that  we  do  not  get  such  crops  as  for- 
merly is  that  the  farmers  "run "their  land  too  much 
with  grain,  and  do  not  pasture  and  clover  enough  ;  and 
the  forests  are  cut  away,  so  there  are  no  trees  for  wind- 
breaks." 


EXTRACTS   FROM  LETTERS.  63 

Mr.  Adam  Bloom,  of  Michigan,  says  "  he  plo wed-un- 
der an  old  mint-stubble,  in  the  spring,  about  seven 
inches  deep  ;  dragged  it  twice,  and  cultivated  it  four 
times  in  all,  with  a  good  cultivator,  wherever  the  mint 
and  grass  made  their  appearance,  so  that  the  ground  was 
made  fine  and  kept  clean  as  a  garden  all  the  season,  until 
seeding  time  ;  then  cultivated  about  five  inches  deep  so 
as  to  bring  the  rotted  mint  manure  near  the  surface  ; 
then  planted  the  wheat  with  a  drill.  This  mode  gave  me 
eighty-eight  bushels  of  good  wheat,  Early  May  variety, 
from  two  acres,  on  an  old  mint  stubble,  well  cultivated 
and  cleanly  subdued." 

Mr.  E.  L.  Russell,  of  Mich.,  says  his  ground  was  clover 
sod,  plowed-under  the  year  before,  and  then  in  August 
wheat  stubble  was  plowed  about  eight  inches  deep  ;  then, 
early  in  September,  just  before  drilling  in  the  seed,  eigh- 
teen loads  of  barn-yard  manure  to  the  acre  were  spread 
on  the  plowed  ground  and  thoroughly  harrowed  into  the 
surface  soil,  and  followed  with  the  roller ;  then,  Septem- 
ber eleventh,  planted  by  drill,  putting  one  and  a  half 
bushels  of  seed  to  the  acre. 

Such  statements,  from  practical  farmers  and  successful 
growers,  are  very  valuable. 


64  WHEAT   CULTUHE. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
DISEASES    AND    INSECTS   ATTACKING    WHEAT. 

Many  of  the  diseases  to  which  the  wheat  crop  is  liable 
are  caused  by  improper  culture  and  conditions  of  the 
land,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  foregoing  pages.  Some 
experienced  growers  maintain  that  even  the  prevalence  of 
insects  may  be  prevented  by  judicious  culture  of  the  soil 
and  preparation  of  the  seed. 

RUST  AND  SMUT. 

Rust,  smut,  and  other  forms  of  fungus,  are  usually 
due  to  a  lack  of  drainage,  stagnant  water  in  the  sub-soil, 
and  a  too  succulent  growth  of  the  plant  by  the  excess  of 
nitrogenous  matter,  and  a  lack  of  soluble  silica  in  the 
soil,  which  cause  soft,  spongy  straw,  not  sufficiently 
glazed  over  with  silica  to  render  it  hard  and  stiff,  to  re- 
sist effect  of  changes  in  temperature. 

It  is  maintained  that  perfect  drainage  and  complete 
pulverization  of  the  soil,  so  as  to  freely  admit  the  circula- 
tion and  action  of  the  air  and  moisture  all  through  it,  by 
which  silica  and  other  mineral  matters  will  be  better  dis- 
solved, will  almost  entirely  remedy  the  evil,  especially 
with  a  liberal  quantity  of  potash  and  salt  in  the  soil. 
Ashes,  lime,  and  salt,  with  moisture,  are  powerful  sol- 
vents of  all  matters  in  the  earth  necessary  to  make  stout, 
healthy  wheat  crops.  Hence  their  action  does  much  to 
prevent  rust  and  smut,  as  also  does  soaking  the  seed,  six 
to  ten  hours,  in  salt  or  blue-stone  brine,  and  then  stirring 
the  grain  in  lime  or  plaster,  liberally,  to  dry  it,  for  work- 
ing freely  through  the  drill  in  planting. 

A  moderate  dressing  of  lime  on  the  growing  wheat, 
late  in  fall  or  early  spring,  when  wet  with  dew  or  rain,  is 


DISEASES   AND   INSECTS   ATTACKING   WHEAT.          65 

a  good  preventive  and  cure.  But  early  harvest,  while  the 
grain  is  soft,  is  a  very  sure  way  to  avoid  the  destruction 
by  rust. 

THE  CHINCH  BUG  AND  HESSIAN  FLY. 

In  some  sections  and  seasons  the  Chinch  Bug  (Micropus 
leucopterus)  is  very  destructive,  especially  in  dry  seasons, 
but  wet  weather  is  unfavorable  to  it  ;  all  grains  are 
more  or  less  liable  to  be  infested  by  this  insect.  Ex- 
perienced farmers  have  found  that  spreading  eight  to  ten 
bushels  of  quick  lime,  to  the  acre,  on  the  stubble  and 
among  the  weeds,  and  plowing  it  all  under  in  August, 
for  seeding  in  September,  is  a  pretty  sure  way  of  getting 
rid  of  this  pest,  as  well  as  many  other  insects  which  in- 
fest the  wheat  crop  ;  but  a  second  shallower  plowing,  or 
working  with  the  cultivator,  and  thorough  rolling,  before 
seeding,  should  be  done,  to  fit  the  land  nicely  for  the 
drill,  and  to  more  perfectly  mix  the  lime  and  soil. 

Another  troublesome  pest  is  the  Hessian  Fly  (Ceci- 
domyia  destructor)  which  often  appears  in  some  localities 
and  seasons. 

A  writer  in  the  "Allentown  (Penn.)  Democrat" 
says  : — ' <  There  are  two  broods  of  the  Hessian  fly  brought 
to  perfection  each  year — in  the  fall  and  the  spring  ;  the 
transformation  of ^some  appear  to  be  often  retarded  beyond 
the  usual  time,  and  the  life  of  individuals  is  sometimes 
longer  than  a  year,  and  the  continuation  of  the  species 
in  after  years  made  sure.  The  mature  insect  deposits  it? 
eggs  on  the  young  plants  soon  after  they  appear  above  the 
ground,  and  are  several  weeks  doing  this  ;  the  eggs  are 
about  five  days  in  hatching,  the  young  worms  going 
directly  to  a  joint  of  the  stalk,  where  they  affix  them- 
selves and  become  stationary,  until  their  transformations 
are  completed,  but  do  not  go  to  the  center  of  the  stalk, 
nor  bore  into  it,  as  some  suppose,  but  lie  upon  its  sur- 


66  WHEAT  CULTURE. 

face,  protected  by  the  leaves.  One  maggot  seldom  des- 
troys a  plant,  but  three  or  four  deplete  it  of  its  juices, 
and  it  dies.  It  takes  five  or  six  weeks  for  the  larvaB  to 
attain  full  size.  At  this  time  the  skin  hardens,  becomes 
brown,  and  to  the  naked  eye  the  insect  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  small  flaxseed.  In  this  condition  it  remains 
until  spring,  when  the  fly  comes  forth,  and  goes  through 
the  same  operations  as  before." 

A  dressing  of  three  to  five  bushels  of  salt,  to  the  acre, 
in  the  fall,  and  another  in  early  spring,  it  is  said,  will 
effectually  destroy  them  ;  and  that  lightly  covering  the 
seed  in  rich,  friable  soil,  is  more  unfavorable  to  their 
growth  than  the  opposite.  A  Virginia  farmer  recom- 
mends the  sowing  on  wheat  of  four  to  five  bushels  of 
lime,  to  the  acre,  as  a  remedy  for  the  Hessian  fly.  Sow 
while  the  dew  is  on  the  plant,  and  the  lime  will  be  dis- 
solved, forming  a  lye,  which  runs  down  the  blade  to  the 
root,  thus  destroying  the  insect. 

Plaster  sowed  on  the  growing  crop,  spring  and  fall,  is 
said  to  be  very  useful. 

WHEAT  MIDGES. 

Mr.  Klippart  speaks  of  two  insects  known  as  Midges — 
the  red  midge  (Cecidomyia  tmtici),  a  species  of  the  same 
genus  as  the  Hessian  fly  ;  and  another,  the  yellow  midge, 
a  small  fly.  They  both  prey  upon  the  head  of  the  wheat, 
in  the  chaff,  and  on  the  kernel,  while  the  grain  is  green, 
and  cause  it  to  blast  before  coming  to  maturity. 

Eich  culture,  strong  growth,  with  early  planting  and 
early  harvesting,  will  do  much  to  prevent  the  evils  done 
by  these  insects.  Wheat  sown  in  wide  drills  and  hoed, 
by  hand  or  horse-hoes,  gives  a  favorable  opportunity  to 
apply  lime  or  sulphur  to  the  heads  of  the  grain,  by 
sprinkling,  which  cannot  be  done  in  ordinary  culture ; 
and  those  articles  are  destructive  to  the  midges,  if  applied 


DISEASES  AND   INSECTS   ATTACKING   WHEAT.          67 

when  the  grain  is  wet  with  dew,  or  rain. 

THE  GRANARY  OR  BARN  WEEVIL. 

The  Weevil  ( Calandra  granaria)  is  an  insect  which  in- 
fests grain  in  the  granary.  The  weevils  prey  upon  all 
kinds  of  grain  in  the  bin  and  the  corn-crib,  and  being 
very  small,  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  length,  they 
are  not  readily  seen,  particularly  in  a  dark  bin.  Their 
mode  of  mischief  is  by  piercing  minute  holes  in  the  ker- 
nel, and  there  depositing  their  eggs,  from  which  are 
hatched  small  maggots  which  eat  out  the  heart  and  flour 
of  the  grain. 

An  agricultural  journal  remarks  in  regard  to  it  : 
"  Wheat  in  the  granary  is  subject  to  injury  by  the  weevil 
and  the  grain  moth.  This  damage  may  be  prevented,  to 
some  extent,  by  shifting  the  grain  and  running  it  through 
the  fanning-mill.  Corn  cribs  are  almost  always  infested 
by  rats  and  mice.  A  vermin-proof  crib  may  be  made  by 
covering  the  posts  and  lower  corners  with  tin  or  sheet- 
iron,  which  may  be  painted  for  preservation.  The  loss 
by  these  causes  will  average  eighteen  per  cent,  and  often 
more,  of  the  value  of  the  grain,  but  it  may  be  in  part  or 
wholly  avoided  by  care  and  precaution."  Fumigation 
with  sulphur  or  tobacco  has  been  found  useful. 

But,  as  has  been  and  is  maintained  by  many  old  prac- 
tical growers,  deep,  rich,  thorough  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
with  care  in  selecting  and  preparing  the  seed,  is  largely  a 
security  from  serious  injury  by  any  of  those  diseases  and 
insects,  by  producing  plants  with  vigor  and  strength  to 
resist  or  overcome  ravages  by  either.  Slim  growth  and 
feeble  conditions  induce  and  invite  ravages  by  disease  and 
insects,  while  luxuriant  growth  and  healthy  conditions  of 
soil  are,  as  a  rule,  favorable  to  security. 


68  WHEAT    CULTURE. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
TO    PREVENT    WINTER-KILLING. 

The  most  effective  and  beneficial  mode  of  preventing 
wheat  from  being  injured  by  the  freezing  and  heaving 
of  the  soil  is  liberal  mulching,  top-dressing  with  fine 
manure  or  compost  from  the  barn-yard,  or  slaked  peat 
from  the  muck  pile ;  to  be  evenly  spread  over  the  fall- 
sowed  wheat  field  in  autumn,  when  the  ground  is  suf- 
ficiently frozen  to  bear  the  wagon  wheels.  Spread  just 
thick  enough  to  have  the  ground  lightly  covered,  so  that 
when  the  soil  freezes,  cracks  and  heaves,  the  wheat  roots 
will  be  covered,  protected  and  not  torn  out,  but  the 
mulch  or  compost  will  fall  into  the  cracks  and  cover  the 
roots,  sheltering  them  from  the  effects  of  weather.  We 
have  several  times  seen  fields  which  were  liable  to  this 
freezing  and  heaving,  with  wheat  drilled  in,  portions  of 
which  were  top-dressed  in  autumn,  as  above  directed, 
and  on  which  a  full  crop  of  good,  plump  grain  was 
secured,  while  on  the  portion  of  the  fields  not  mulched, 
in  every  instance  the  crop  of  wheat  was  a  total  failure, 
not  showing  straw  or  grain  enough  to  be  worth  harvest- 
ing. In  fact,  the  grain  obtained  from  the  portion  of  the 
field  which  was  top-dressed  much  more  than  paid  the 
cost  of  the  operation  ;  besides  the  incidental  benefits  of 
this  light  mulching,  as  a  surface  manure,  a  protection  to 
the  soil  from  scorching  sun  rays  of  summer,  and  shelter- 
ing the  young  grass  when  the  grain  is  cut  off.  In  fact, 
liberal,  frequent,  careful  top-dressing  the  fall-sown 
grains  as  well  as  meadows,  is  one  of  the  most  profitable 
and  reasonable  methods  for  preserving  fertility  of  soils 
and  protecting  winter  grains  and  grasses  that  farmers 
can  practise,  and  will  be  found  always  profitable. 


IMPROVED   MACHINERY   AND    IMPLEMENTS.  69 

CHAPTER    XV. 
IMPROVED    MACHINERY    AND    IMPLEMENTS. 

New  inventions  have  enabled  the  producers  to  draw  from 
the  soil  its  powers  and  productions  with  such  rapidity, 
without  equally  replenishing  its  fertility,  that  the  capac- 
ity of  the  land  to  produce  has  been  almost  as  rapidly  ex- 
hausted ;  whereas,  had  the  farmers  as  generally  applied 
those  vast  powers  also  to  draining  and  thoroughly  pul- 
verizing the  land  to  an  additional  depth,  the  fertility  or 
productive  power  would  have  been  proportionally  in- 
creased and  preserved.  It  is  not  yet  too  late,  if  they 
will  learn  lessons  of  wisdom  and  judiciously  apply  them 
to  a  more  perfect  system  of  tillage. 

Land  which  is  lumpy  and  cloddy,  only  partly  crushed 
and  mellow,  can  be  only  partly  available  to  nourishing 
and  maturing  of  the  crops,  as  plants  can  appropriate 
only  what  is  fit  for  solution  ;  for  continuous,  large  crop- 
ping this  should  be  done,  and  machine-power  can  well 
be  adopted  to  do  it.  So  with  deep  culture  ;  land  thor- 
oughly and  uniformly  cultivated  to  the  depth  of  twelve 
or  fifteen  inches  is  capable  of  producing,  year  after  year, 
nearly  twice  as  much  crop  as  six  inches  in  depth ;  and 
machine-power,  which  has  been  so  effective  in  harvesting 
and  thrashing,  can  be  made  equally  effective  in  draining 
and  comminuting  the  land  to  greater  depth.  Then  the 
rapid  cropping  will  not  exhaust  the  power  of  production 
of  the  soil. 


70  WHEAT   CULTUIIE. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 
ANALYSES    OF    WHEAT    AND    STRAW. 

Knowing  the  constituents  of  the  wheat  plant — both 
grain  and  straw — will  aid  very  much  in  determining 
what  parts  are  derived  from  the  earth  and  what  from  the 
atmosphere,  respectively,  as  well  as  what  is  to  be  done, 
by  cultivation,  to  supply  those  wants  so  as  to  secure  the 
best  results. 

Burning  the  grain  and  straw,  reducing  them  to  ashes, 
shows  the  mineral  or  inorganic  ingredients  which  are  ob- 
tained from  the  soil ;  chemical  decomposition  and  separa- 
tion shows  the  organic  and  nutritive  ingredients,  which 
are  mostly  obtained  from  the  atmosphere. 

Vcelcker  proves  that  a  large  percentage  of  wheat  is 
etarch,  gluten,  and  sugar,  while  straw  contains  a  large 
per  cent  of  carbon  and  silica. 

Analysis  by  Boussingault  shows  that  wheat  contains,  in 
one  hundred  parts  :  Carbon,  46.10  ;  oxygen,  43.40  ;  hy- 
drogen, 5.80;  nitrogen,  2.30;  ash,  2.40=100.  These 
are  derived  from  both  air  and  soil,  but  mostly  from  the 
air. 

Prof.  Way  gives  the  following  analyses  of  the  ashes  of 
grain  and  straw,  separately,  in  one  hundred  parts : 
GRAIN — Silica,  5.63;  phosphoric  acid,  43.98;  sulphuric 
acid,  0.21;  lime,  1.80;  magnesia,  11.69;  peroxide  of 
iron,  0.29;  potash,  34.51;  soda,  1.87;  loss,  0.02.  Of 
STRAW — Silica,  69.36  ;  phosphoric  acid,  5.24;  sulphuric 
acid,  4.45;  lime,  6.96;  magnesia,  1.45;  peroxide  of 
iron,  0.29;  potash,  11.79;  soda,  none;  loss,  0.46. 
Much  silica  in  the  straw,  far  more  than  in  the  grain, 
and  is  derived  from  the  soil. 

In  " Encyclopedia  of  Agriculture"  we  find  the  follow- 


ANALYSES   OF   WHEAT   AKD   STRAW.  71 

ing  analysis,  by  Prof.  Beck,  of  the  constituents  of  grain  : 
Water  14.0;  gluten  and  albumen,  146;  starch,  59.7; 
gum  and  sugar,  7.2  ;  cellular  and  woody  fibre,  1.7  ;  fatty 
matter,  1.2  ;  mineral  matters,  1.6=100. 

Professor  Horsford,  in  his  excellent  work  on  the  Paris 
and  Vienna  Expositions,  gives  the  following  analyses  of 
the  ash  of  average  good  wheat :  potash,  30.00  ;  soda, 
3.50;  magnesia,  11.00;  lime,  3.50;  oxide  of  iron, 
1.00  ;  chloride  of  sodium,  0.50  ;  sulphuric  acid,  0.50  ; 
phosphoric  acid,  46.50  ;  silica,  3.50=100.  He  gives  the 
following  organic  and  nutritive  ingredients  : — Starch, 
57.00;  dextrine,  4.50 ;  fibrine,  9.27;  nitrogen,  2.23; 
oil,  1.80 ;  woody  fibre,  6.10  ;  ash,  1.70  ;  extract  matter, 
1.40;  water,  16.00. 

Professor  Muller  found  the  following  in  100  parts  of 
heavy  wheat  grains : 

Water,  15.65;  woody  fibre,  2.54;  ash,  1.57;  nitro- 
genous matter,  11.84;  oil,  2.61;  sugar,  1.41;  starch, 
64.38  ;  albumen  and  gluten  are  included  in  the  above  as 
nitrogenous  matter,  and  with  the  starch  constitutes  the 
nutritive  matter. 

Professor  Way  showed  that  an  acre  of  wheat,  which 
yielded  forty  bushels,  gave  in  weight  : 

Grain,  2,604  Ibs.  ;  mineral  matter,  441/.,  Ibs.  Straw, 
2,775  Ibs.  ;  mineral  matter,  1231/,  Ibs.  Chaff,  401  Ibs.  ; 
mineral  matter,  47Y2  Ibs. 

The  grain  gave  5. 6  per  cent  of  silica,  and  the  straw 
gave  69.36  per  cent  of  silica  ;  the  grain  gave  43.98 
per  cent  of  phosphatic  matter,  and  the  straw  6.24  per 
cent  of  same.  Of  lime,  potash,  magnesia,  and  soda,  the 
grain  gave  49.87  per  cent,  while  the  straw  gave  only 
20.20  per  cent  of  the  same  ingredients.  This  large 
amount  of  silica  (dissolved  sand)  in  straw  and  chaff 
should  go  back  to  the  soil  for  the  benefit  of  future  crops. 


72  WHEAT   CULTURE. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
CONCLUSION. 

When  all  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  bring 
their  wheat  yield  up  to  that  of  Michigan  and  Ohio,  the 
center  of  wheat  production  will  continue  to  be  east  of 
that  river  ;  but  at  present,  indications  are  that  the  wheat 
center  is  rapidly  tending  to  a  line  west  of  that,  if,  in- 
deed, it  be  not  already  beyond  it,  so  that  unless  the 
eastern  portions  of  the  country  speedily  improve  their 
present  modes  of  cultivation  and  increase  their  yield  of 
wheat,  they  will  soon  and  surely  lose  their  ascendancy  in 
wheat  measures. 

Better  drainage,  deeper  plowing,  and  more  perfect  pul- 
verization of  the  soil  are  absolutely  necessary,  together 
with  a  more  liberal  use  of  Clover,  Plaster,  and  Lime,  to 
secure  a  considerably  larger  yield  of  wheat,  in  the  older 
States.  Hon.  Thomas  Pollard,  of  Virginia,  says  clay 
land,  with  clover  fallow,  will  bear  one  hundred  bushels 
of  lime  to  the  acre,  with  advantage  ;  but  on  land  defi- 
cient in  vegetable  matter,  very  much  less  should  be  used. 

Highest  success  in  wheat-growing  involves  and  pre- 
sumes skillful  and  intelligent  management  in  other  parts 
of  farming,  so  that  he  who  uniformly  secures  superior  re- 
sults with  wheat,  and  does  not  impoverish  his  land  or 
soil,  cannot  well  be  other  than  a  good  farmer,  able  to 
secure  profitable  results  in  all  other  farm  operations. 
Hence,  to  become  an  eminent  wheat-grower  is  to  become 
a  complete  farmer.  To  aid  in  bringing  about  that  result 
is  our  aim  and  purpose  in  writing  this  little  work. 


Gardening  for  Profit: 

A   GUIDE  TO  THE  SUCCESSFUL  CULTIVATION  OP  THE 

Market  and  Family  Garden. 

NEWLY  WRITTEN  AND  GREATLY  ENLARGED. 

By    PETER    HENDERSON, 
Author  of  '-Practical  Floriculture"  and  "Gardening  for  Pleasure." 

REVISED  AND  ENLARGED.    FINELY  ILLUSTRATED. 

A  now  well  known  and  standard  work  on  Market  and  Family  Gardening.  It 
is  the  first  book  of  the  kind  prepared  by  a  Market  Gardener,  in  this  country. 
The  author's  successful  experience  of  more  than  twenty-five  years,  enables  him 
to  give  a  most  valuable  record.  It  is  an  original  and  purely  American  work,  and 
not  made  up,  as  books  on  gardening  too  often  are,  by  quotations  from  foreign 
authors.  Everything  is  made  perfectly  plain,  and  the  subject  treated  in  all  ita 
details,  from  the  selection  of  the  soil  to  preparing  the  products  for  market. 
Cloth,  12mo.  PRICE,  POST-PAID,  $2.00. 


Gardening  for  Pleasure: 

A    GUIDE    TO    THE    AMATEUR    IN    THE 

Fruit,  Vegetable,   and   Flower  Garden 

WITH    FULL    DIRECTIONS    FOB    THE 

Greenhouse  Conservator!  and  Wot  Garden. 

By    PETER    HENDERSON, 
Author  of  '•'Gardening for  Profit'1''  and  "Practical  Floriculture" 

REVISED  AND  ENLARGED.    FINELY  ILLUSTRATED. 

This  work  is  prepared  to  meet  the  wants  of  all  classes,  in  Country,  City,  and 
Village,  who  keep  a  Garden  for  their  own  enjoyment  rather  than  for  the  sale  of 
products.  It  is  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  amateur  in  in-door  and  out- 
door garden  ing.  It  is  one  of  the  best  guides  to  Window  Gardening  we  know  of. 
The  work  includes  fruit,  vegetable,  and  flower-gardening,  greenhouses  and 
graperies,  window  gardening,  and  Wardian  cases.  Cloth,  12mo. 
PRICE,  POST-PAID,  $2.00. 

ORANGE  JUDD  COMPANY,   Publishers, 

751     BROADWAY,    NEW     YORK. 


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